8 - Shape optimization of dental restorations

Abstract

Although the rapid developments in dental biomaterials and bonding techniques have significantly improved their mechanical performance, failures of dental restorations still occur. There are many factors that cause failure of dental restorations, with secondary caries and fracture of teeth or restorations cited as the most important. Therefore, attempts at applying shape optimisation techniques to the design of dental restorations have been made. The designs of ceramic dental bridges and cavity shapes respectively were optimised using nature-inspired structural optimization methods to minimise stresses in the restorations under occlusal loading. This chapter describes how shape optimisation techniques may be used to derive alternative cavity shapes to minimise the interfacial stresses for bonded restorations under occlusal loads. The optimised cavity shapes can therefore potentially prolong the life of restorations and reduce the incidence of fracture in restored teeth.