Fibre Bragg grating sensing technology for the evaluation of physical properties of dental resin composites

The characterization of the physical properties of dental resin composites is fraught with difficulties relating to significant intra and inter test parameter variabilities and is relatively time consuming and expensive. The main aim of this study was to evaluate whether optical fibre Brag grating (FBG) sensing system may become a viable tool to study dental material characteristics. Of particular focus was the potential for the system to demonstrate a multi parameter all-in-one feature. A miniature FBG was embedded in six different dental resin composites and employed as a sensor to evaluate linear polymerization shrinkage, thermal expansion and water sorption. This study demonstrates how optical fibre technology can provide simple and reliable methods of measuring the critical physical properties of dental composites. In addition due to the embedding and preservation of the sensor within the samples multiple parameters can be tested for with the same sample.