A THREE-DIMENSIONAL FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS ON STRESS AND DISPLACEMENT RELATED TO ISTHMUS WIDTH OF GOLD INLAY CAVITY

금인레이 와동의 폭경이 응력분포와 변위에 미치는 영향에 관한 3차원 유한요소법적 연구

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the fracture resistance of tooth restored with gold inlay. A profound understanding of the isthmus width factor, which is one of the several parameters of cavity designs, would facilitate the appropriate cavity preparation in a specific clinical situation. In this study, the cavities for gold inlay were prepared in maxillary left first premolar. A three-dimensional model was designed using I-DEAS program. The model was composed of 2515- nodes and 2172 isoparametric brick elements. In the model isthmus width was varied into 1/4, 1/3 and 1/2 of intercuspal width respectively, and numeric values of the material properties of enamel, dentin and gold was set. Three types of load : concentrated load, divided load and distributed load was 500N. The empty cavities in the model were also examined using divided load and distributed load. The three - dimensional Finite Element Method was used to analysis the displacement and stress distribution. The results were as follows : 1. All of the experimental models which were filled with gold inlay revealed similar direction of displacement to that of the natural tooth model under the same load type. But in the models with empty cavities, as the isthmus width increased, the degree of displacement increased in the case of divided load type. 2. All experimental models which were filled with gold inlay showed stress concentration at load points, but in the models with empty cavities at divided load type, as isthmus width increased, stress was concentrated at the comer of the pulpal floor. 3. In the models with empty cavities at divided load type, tooth fracture was expected regardless of isthmus width, but all experimental models which were filled with gold inlay after cavity preparation were not susceptible to fracture. 4. In all experimental models which were filled with gold inlay after cavity preparation, displacement patterns were similar under both concentrated and divided load types. In the models with empty cavities, a divided load resulted in a bucco-lingual cuspal displacemenat in both sides, but a distributed load resulted in a lingual displacement of the tooth.