• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.246-257
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of various occlusal loading sites and directions on the stress distribution of the cervical composite resin restorations of maxillary second premolar, using 3 dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) analysis. Extracted maxillary second premolar was scanned serially with Micro-CT (SkyScan1072; SkyScan, Aartselaar, Belgium). The 3D images were processed by 3D-DOCTOR (Able Software Co., Lexington, MA, USA). HyperMesh (Altair Engineering, Inc., Troy, USA) and ANSYS (Swanson Analysis Systems, Inc., Houston, USA) was used to mesh and analyze 3D FE model. Notch shaped cavity was filled with hybrid (Z100, 3M Dental Products, St. Paul, MN, USA) or flowable resin (Tetric Flow, Vivadent Ets., FL-9494-Schaan, Liechtenstein) and each restoration was simulated with adhesive layer thickness ($40{\mu}m$). A static load of 200 N was applied on the three points of the buccal incline of the palatal cusp and oriented in $20^{\circ}$ increments, from vertical (long axis of the tooth) to oblique $40^{\circ}$ direction towards the buccal. The maximum principal stresses in the occlusal and cervical cavosurface margin and vertical section of buccal surfaces of notch-shaped class V cavity were analyzed using ANSYS. As the angle of loading direction increased, tensile stress increased. Loading site had little effect on it. Under same loading condition, Tetric Flow showed relatively lower stress than Z100 overall, except both point angles. Loading direction and the elastic modulus of restorative material seem to be important factor on the cervical restoration.