Thermal stress analysis in the coated upper canine

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the thermal stresses caused by temperature change on the upper canine coated by various dental materials. In this study, first of all the modeling of tooth has been done by using a specific computer program Ansys 5.3 that is capable of both finite element modeling and stress-strain analysis. Secondly, thermal stresses arising from the temperature difference between the tooth temperature and the temperatures of the food and drinks taken to mouth have been examined. It has been demonstrated that the lowest thermal stresses occur in metal crowns, while the highest thermal stresses occur in metal-ceramic crowns. It has been shown that metal-ceramic crowns are more prone in terms of heat compared to metal crowns and that these crowns may deteriorate in time and may even become unusable.