Friction and wear behavior of human teeth under various wear conditions

Previous reports have described the differences in the friction and wear behavior between different zones of human teeth. The objective of this research was to study the friction and wear behavior of human teeth under different wear conditions to extend the understanding of the tooth wear process, as well as to provide a more rational explanation for wear mechanism of teeth. Two typical wear tests, namely twoand three-body wear, were conducted on human tooth enamel using a reciprocating apparatus. The effect of food particles was of particular interest. Three loads, 10, 20 and 40N, were used. Wear was assessed by sample wear volume. The results show that human tooth enamel exhibits lower friction and smaller wear volume under three-body wear conditions than under two-body wear conditions. Under three-body wear conditions, although increasing normal load results in a progressive increase in the wear volume of enamel, the increasing rate is lower at high load than that under two-body wear conditions. Further analysis of wear surfaces indicates that human tooth enamel experiences different wear mechanisms under different wear conditions. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.