An indirect extrusion capillary viscometer has been developed. This has been tested for nonsetting Newtonian fluids and was found to give results close to, but slightly lower than the actual viscosity. The same apparatus has been successfully applied to a non-Newtonian fluid to determine the dependence of viscosity on shear rate. The technique described should meet the requirements for assessing the rheological characteristics important in the mixing and setting of dental materials. The developed viscometer must be coupled with a sensitive mechanical testing machine capable of an adequate range of crosshead speeds that can be changed rapidly. By obtaining force vs time curves at different shear rates for setting materials, viscosity can be calculated as a function of time. Also, the viscosity at any given time during the setting process can be calculated as a function of shear rate. This chould be of aid in the interpretation of changes in rheological properties during setting of dental materials.

Dental Materials↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Fracture resistance of five pin-retained core build-up materials on teeth with and without extracoronal preparation.

Core build-ups should provide satisfactory strength and resistance to fracture both before and after crown preparation. This paper examines the resistance to fracture of core build-ups in different materials and the fracture resistance of core build-ups when these have been reduced for full crown preparation. Standardized core build-ups were made on groups of extracted molar teeth of similar size, with 10 teeth per group. Three resin-composite (prisma APH: Dentsply, Weybridge, UK; Ti-Core, Essential Dental Systems, NJ, US and Coradent, Vivadent, Liechtenstein), one cermet (Ketac-Silver, ESPE GmbH, Seefeld, Germany) and one amalgam material (Duralloy, Degussa Ltd, Cheshire, UK). These specimens were subjected to compressive force on a universal testing machine and the force at fracture noted. Standardized full crown preparations were made on a further five groups of core build-up specimens using the same materials as above. These prepared specimens were subjected to compressive force on a universal testing machine and the force to fracture noted. The results indicated that amalgam core build-ups demonstrated higher fracture resistance than the other materials examined. There was a general decrease in the fracture strength of the specimens following crown preparation, with the teeth restored with the amalgam core build-ups showing a greater percentage reduction in fracture strength than the other materials tested. Prepared core build-ups in a hybrid composite material provided the highest fracture resistance. The cermet material used provided the lowest resistance to fracture in both the core build-up and crown preparation specimens. In terms of fracture resistance, no advantage was apparent in using the two composite materials designated as being specifically appropriate for core build-ups.

Analysis of Variance↗