Xiao-Fei Song

Machinability of lithium disilicate glass ceramic in in vitro dental diamond bur adjusting process

Esthetic high-strength lithium disilicate glass ceramics (LDGC) are used for monolithic crowns and bridges produced in dental CAD/CAM and oral adjusting processes, which machinability affects the restorative quality. A machinability study has been made in the simulated oral clinical machining of LDGC with a dental handpiece and diamond burs, regarding the diamond tool wear and chip control, machining forces and energy, surface finish and integrity. Machining forces, speeds and energy in in vitro dental adjusting of LDGC were measured by a high-speed data acquisition and force sensor system. Machined LDGC surfaces were assessed using three-dimensional non-contact chromatic confocal optical profilometry and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Diamond bur morphology and LDGC chip shapes were also examined using SEM. Minimum tool wear but significant LDGC chip accumulations were found. Machining forces and energy significantly depended on machining conditions (p<0.05) and were significantly higher than other glass ceramics (p<0.05). Machining speeds dropped more rapidly with increased removal rates than other glass ceramics (p<0.05). Two material machinability indices associated with the hardness, Youngs modulus and fracture toughness were derived based on the normal force-removal rate relations, which ranked LDGC the most difficult to machine among glass ceramics. Surface roughness for machined LDGC was comparable for other glass ceramics. The removal mechanisms of LDGC were dominated by penetration-induced brittle fracture and shear-induced plastic deformation. Unlike most other glass ceramics, distinct intergranular and transgranular fractures of lithium disilicate crystals were found in LDGC. This research provides the fundamental data for dental clinicians on the machinability of LDGC in intraoral adjustments.

Subsurface damage induced in dental resurfacing of a feldspar porcelain with coarse diamond burs

The primary cause for early failure of ceramic restorations is surface and subsurface damage induced in adjustment and resurfacing using dental handpieces/burs. This paper reports finite element analysis (FEA) modelling of dental resurfacing to predict the degrees of subsurface damage, in combination with experimental measurement using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The FEA predictions of subsurface damage induced in a feldspar porcelain with coarse diamond burs were in agreement with the SEM experimental measurement. These findings provide dental clinicians a quantitative description of the response of dental resurfacing-induced subsurface damage. The implication of the results for non-destructive evaluation of subsurface damage by FEA modelling will be practically meaningful to clinical dental restorations for high-quality ceramic restorations.

Surface quality of yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal in CAD/CAM milling, sintering, polishing and sandblasting processes.

This paper studied the surface quality (damage, morphology, and phase transformation) of yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (Y-TZP) in CAD/CAM milling, and subsequent polishing, sintering and sandblasting processes applied in dental restorations. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to scan all processed surfaces to determine phase transformations and analyse surface damage morphology, respectively. The average surface roughness (Ra) and maximum roughness (Rz) for all processed surfaces were measured using desk-top SEM-assisted morphology analytical software. X-ray diffraction patterns prove the sintering-induced monoclinic-tetragonal phase transformation while the sandblasting-induced phase transformation was not detected. The CAD/CAM milling of pre-sintered Y-TZP produced very rough surfaces with extensive fractures and cracks. Simply polishing or sintering of milled pre-sintered surfaces did not significantly improve their surface roughness (ANOVA, p>0.05). Neither sintering-polishing of the milled surfaces could effectively improve the surface roughness (ANOVA, p>0.05). The best surface morphology was produced in the milling-polishing-sintering process, achieving Ra=0.21±0.03µm and Rz=1.73±0.04µm, which meets the threshold for bacterial retention. Sandblasting of intaglios with smaller abrasives was recommended as larger abrasive produced visible surface defects. This study provides technical insights into process selection for Y-TZP to achieve the improved restorative quality.

Stress and damage at the bur‐prosthesis interface in dental adjustments of a leucite‐reinforced glass ceramic

This article reports on the effects of dental adjustment parameters on stress and damage induced in a leucite-reinforced glass ceramic using a high-speed dental handpiece and coarse diamond burs. As one of machinable dental ceramics for prosthetic restorations, a leucite-reinforced glass ceramic has higher fracture toughness than feldspar porcelains. However, the extent of subsurface damage and stress induced in clinical dental adjustments is unknown. Tensile, shear, compressive and von Mises stresses at the bur-ceramic interface were investigated as functions of dental adjustment parameters using finite element analysis (FEA). The depths of subsurface damage were predicted using FEA according to the maximum principal stress criterion and experimentally measured using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The resulting predicted subsurface damage depths agree well with the experimentally measured data. Both adjustment parameters, depth of cut and feed rate, were found to have significant influences on adjustment-induced stresses (P < 0.01) and subsurface damage (P < 0.01). It is also found that the predicted and measured subsurface damage depths increased linearly with the diamond grit depth of cut.

In-process assessment of dental cutting of a leucite-reinforced glass-ceramic.

This paper reports an in-process assessment of the dental cutting of a leucite-reinforced glass-ceramic with a high-speed dental handpiece under clinical operating conditions. The dental cutting was performed using a computer-controlled 2-degrees-of-freedom (2-DOF) testing regime and a coarse diamond bur of 106-125 microm grit size. Dynamic forces were monitored during the cutting process using a piezoelectric force dynamometer and a data acquisition system in both time and frequency domains. Bur speeds were found to decrease with the depth of cut and with the feed rate, by a maximum of 10.5% from the free-running speed of 322.2 krpm (1 krpm=1,000 rpm) to 288.4 krpm at the highest feed rate of 60mm/min and depth of cut of 50 microm. Both the tangential and normal forces increased with the depth of cut and the feed rate, in the ranges of 0.24-1.77 N and 0.60-2.93 N respectively. The torque increased with the depth of cut and feed rate. The specific cutting energy generally decreased with the depth of cut or the feed rate with the exception of a small-scale fluctuation at the higher depth of cut and feed rate. The dental cutting characteristics for the leucite glass-ceramic were similar to those for the feldspathic porcelain but had higher magnitudes.

Effect of diamond burs on process and damage involving in vitro dental resurfacing of a restorative porcelain

This work reports on the effect of diamond burs with coarse, medium and fine grit sizes and nickel or chromium coatings on in vitro dental resurfacing of a restorative porcelain. Process parameters such as tangential and normal forces, surface roughness, surface damage and morphology were studied as a function of removal rate using the different burs. At the lower removal rate, the differences for both the tangential and the normal forces were not significant among the coarse, medium and fine burs. However, when the porcelain was removed at the higher removal rate, both the tangential and the normal forces were markedly higher using the fine bur than those using the medium and coarse burs. Surface roughness values in terms of arithmetic mean and maximum roughness decreased significantly with a decrease in diamond grit size. The scale of surface damage in the form of brittle fracture decreased, and more transitions from brittle removal to ductile flow were observed when using finer grit diamond burs. In a comparison of the diamond bur topographies before and after dental finishing, it was found that minimal wear occurred on the nickel-coated coarse diamond bur, while minor abrasive wear occurred on the nickel-coated medium and chromium-coated fine burs.

The quantitative effect of diamond grit size on the subsurface damage induced in dental adjustment of porcelain surfaces.

Diamond burs with different grit sizes are often applied to adjust ceramic prostheses in restorative dentistry. However, the quantitative influence of diamond grit size on subsurface damage in adjusting ceramic prostheses is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate and visualize the quantitative effect of diamond bur grit size on subsurface damage in dental adjusting of a feldspar prosthetic porcelain. Diamond burs with coarse (106—125 μm), medium (53—60 μm), and fine (10—20 μm) grit sizes were selected. Dental adjusting-induced subsurface damage was quantitatively investigated with the aid of finite element analysis (FEA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Significant differences in subsurface damage depth were found among the coarse, medium, and fine diamond burs (ANOVA, p < 0.05). Coarse diamond burs induced approximately 6—8 times deeper subsurface damage than fine burs. Diamond grit size is confirmed to be a controlling factor in determining the degree of subsurface damage. Subsurface damage depths also significantly increased with removal rate (ANOVA, p < 0.05). The correlation of the SEM-measured subsurface damage depths and the diamond grit sizes supports the FEA predictions. From a practical standpoint, dental porcelains should be adjusted using smaller diamond grit sizes with lower removal rates to minimize subsurface damage.

Induced damage zone in micro-fine dental finishing of a feldspathic porcelain

Intraoral adjustment of ceramic prostheses involving micro-finishing a feldspathic porcelain using very fine diamond burs was reported in Med Eng Phys 2008;30:856-864 with respect to finishing force, energy and surface integrity. The measured finishing forces were found to be very small. The remaining question is whether these small forces in the micro-dental finishing induced any subsurface damage to the porcelain. This paper addresses the finite element analysis (FEA) of the finishing-induced stresses and the depths of subsurface damage in micro-fine finishing. It also reports on the measurement of the subsurface damage using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicate that while finishing using fine diamond burs diminished subsurface damage, damage depths of smaller than 18 microm remained depending on the bur depth of cut and feed rate. These damages can only be minimized under very fine finishing conditions.

Fracture, roughness and phase transformation in CAD/CAM milling and subsequent surface treatments of lithium metasilicate/disilicate glass-ceramics

This paper studied surface fracture, roughness and morphology, phase transformations, and material removal mechanisms of lithium metasilicate/disilicate glass ceramics (LMGC/LDGC) in CAD/CAM-milling and subsequent surface treatments. LMGC (IPS e.max CAD) blocks were milled using a chairside dental CAD/CAM milling unit and then treated in sintering, polishing and glazing processes. X-ray diffraction was performed on all processed surfaces. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was applied to analyse surface fracture and morphology. Surface roughness was quantitatively characterized by the arithmetic average surface roughness Ra and the maximum roughness Rz using desktop SEM-assisted morphology analytical software. The CAD/CAM milling induced extensive brittle cracks and crystal pulverization on LMGC surfaces, which indicate that the dominant removal mechanism was the fracture mode. Polishing and sintering of the milled LMGC lowered the surface roughness (ANOVA, p < 0.05), respectively, while sintering also fully transformed the weak LMGC to the strong LDGC. However, polishing and glazing of LDGC did not significantly improve the roughness (ANOVA, p > 0.05). In comparison of all applied fabrication process routes, it is found that CAD/CAM milling followed by polishing and sintering produced the smoothest surface with Ra = 0.12 ± 0.08µm and Rz = 0.89 ± 0.26µm. Thus, it is proposed as the optimized process route for LMGC/LDGC in dental restorations. This route enables to manufacture LMGC/LDGC restorations with cost effectiveness, time efficiency, and improved surface quality for better occlusal functions and reduced bacterial plaque accumulation.

Quantitative assessment of the enamel machinability in tooth preparation with dental diamond burs

Enamel cutting using dental handpieces is a critical process in tooth preparation for dental restorations and treatment but the machinability of enamel is poorly understood. This paper reports on the first quantitative assessment of the enamel machinability using computer-assisted numerical control, high-speed data acquisition, and force sensing systems. The enamel machinability in terms of cutting forces, force ratio, cutting torque, cutting speed and specific cutting energy were characterized in relation to enamel surface orientation, specific material removal rate and diamond bur grit size. The results show that enamel surface orientation, specific material removal rate and diamond bur grit size critically affected the enamel cutting capability. Cutting buccal/lingual surfaces resulted in significantly higher tangential and normal forces, torques and specific energy (p<0.05) but lower cutting speeds than occlusal surfaces (p<0.05). Increasing material removal rate for high cutting efficiencies using coarse burs yielded remarkable rises in cutting forces and torque (p<0.05) but significant reductions in cutting speed and specific cutting energy (p<0.05). In particular, great variations in cutting forces, torques and specific energy were observed at the specific material removal rate of 3mm(3)/min/mm using coarse burs, indicating the cutting limit. This work provides fundamental data and the scientific understanding of the enamel machinability for clinical dental practice.