[Micromechanical characteristics of restoration stomatological materials and human dental enamel and dentin]

Polished sections of human teeth and 11 Russian and foreign restoration materials (silver amalgam, cements, and polymer-based materials) were studied with an MTI-3M microhardness meter. Microhardness immediately under loaded diamond indentor of the device, elastic and plastic deformations were evaluated. Dental enamel is characterized by the greatest microhardness. Inorganic filler essentially (3-fold) increases the microhardness of polymer-based material. Microhardness of dental tissues and restoration materials notably decreased as the strength of indentor loading, i.e. the depth of its submerging in material, increased. Dental enamel is characterized by the most elastic deformation; dentin approximates the enamel by this parameter, as well as some restoration materials (prodigy, degufil-H, degufil-SC) when exposed to the saliva.