Estimation of the elastic constants of dentin

Abstract

The mechanical compatibility between the dentin and any restorative dental material plays is an important factor in selecting dental restorative materials. In this work we characterize the elastic constants of dentin by developing effective composite moduli estimates, based on either the assumption of a periodic distribution or the assumption of a dilute distribution. The estimated dentin elastic constants obtained are close to the experimentally measured dentin elastic constants determined by ultrasonic speed of sound (SOS) measurements and resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS). The estimated dentin elastic constants obtained provide a database to be used in evaluating potential dental restorative materials and for computational models evaluation other situations involving dentin.