Gaps in Dental Fillings?
Cavities between your teeth are usually filled with composite fillings. However, as these harden, they usually shrink on initial set, and gaps may remain between your teeth and the material, supporting the development of more cavities. When composites are used to fill dental cavities, they start off soft. This way the dentist can properly fill and shape the restoration before it is hardened using a light source. The composite material tends to shrink somewhat as it hardens, and there are possibilities of tiny spaces to form between the tooth and the composite filling material. Food debris can get stuck in these gaps and cause more dental caries. Dental composite manufacturers offer numerous different composites to be used in restoring teeth, but it is up to the dental clinician to determine which of these are best suited to restore the tooth. Cavity preparation by the dentist is subjective, and it is difficult to determine the course of tension that is developing as the composite material is hardening into the dental cavity preparation.
A newly developed method of simulation now allows dental filling tension to be precisely calculated; thus allowing the dentist a choice of the composite material that has the least amount of tension for each individual cavity shape. These simulators can now help both the dentists in choosing the best material, and the composite manufacturers to better their products, The way this is done, is that the dental composite is theoretically subdivided into thousands in small sections an then calculations are made as to how each sections affects its adjacent sections, and so on. Investigational constraints are integrated into the particular elements. This all began with laboratory investigations using ordinary geometry to discover how each composite material responds to tension as the material shrinks, and its flow capacity while hardening; explained Koplin, one of the researchers. More research is required.
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