Laboratory Wear Assessment Using Two Measurement Systems

Contact and non-contact profilometers have been used to assess wear of dental materials subjected to various wear challenges in the laboratory. Wear measurement software is generally system specific. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine and compare wear measurements using two different software systems with a non-contact profilometer. Methods: Twelve specimens each were fabricated for generalized wear simulation using two resin composite materials: Esthet�X (E) and Filtek Supreme Plus (SP). The specimens were subjected to 400,000 cycles in a Leinfelder-Suzuki wear simulator (maximum load of 80N) using flat stainless steel antagonists in a water slurry of PMMA beads. Before and after data sets were generated using a non-contact profilometer (Proscan 2000) with Proscan software. Volume loss (VL) and mean facet depth (FD) were then determined with the data sets using two software systems: 1) ProForm and Proscan (Scantron Industrial Products, Ltd, Taunton, England) and 2) AnSur 3D (Minnesota Dental Research Center for Biomaterials and Biomechanics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN, USA).� Wear measurements (VL and FD) determined with the two software systems for each of the resin composite materials (E and SP) were compared with a t-test and Pearson's correlation. Results:

Wear measurements with the two assessment methods of VL and FD for the two resin composites (E and SP) were not different at the 5% significance level. Pearson's correlation (r) of VL and FD for the two software systems were as follows: E - VL 0.987 and FD 0.985; SP - VL 0.913 and FD 0.987. Wear values (simulated generalized wear) with the AnSur 3D system trended lower for volume loss and higher for mean facet depth when compared to ProForm/Proscan values. Conclusions: � Wear measurements of volume loss and mean facet depth of two resin composite materials were each statistically similar using two assessment methods for determining wear.