Development of a device to study fatigue life of fixed partial dentures

Abstract

[EN] Fixed partial dentures can be fabricated by means of different materials and with different manufacturing processes. In order to establish possible differences among them, their behaviour, as fatigue life or cement shear bond strength, have to be evaluated. This article presents a modular, economic and robust device to evaluate fixed partial dentures and dental crowns. A base to support the fixed partial dentures and a device to simulate masticatory loads have been developed. The device has got a simple design. It is based on a pneumatic piston, with a pressure regulator to control masticatory loads. On a first stage, only vertical forces have been taking into account. However, the device will allow simulating tangential masticatory loads on the other axis, studying the behaviour of the fixed partial dentures submerged in a solution similar to saliva, changing masticatory load application, etc. with little modifications.