Three-dimensional pore-scale modelling of dentinal infiltration.

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Dental Materials
• Computational Fluid Dynamics

Background:

• Dentine is essential for dental restorations, with bonding relying on resin monomer impregnation.
• Understanding dentinal infiltration dynamics is key to successful restorative dentistry.
• Current bonding techniques involve demineralized dentine impregnation with resin blends.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a numerical model for simulating resin infiltration in demineralized dentine.
• To analyze the resin front's movement and identify optimal parameters for dentinal bonding.
• To assess the impact of capillary effects on resin penetration within the dentinal porous network.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a level set technique to track the evolving resin-dentine interface.
• Coupled the level set method with Navier-Stokes equations, incorporating a capillary term.
• Employed finite element discretization for the variational approach and simulated porosimetry tests for model validation.

Main Results:

• The numerical model successfully simulated dentinal infiltration and validated against porosimetry tests, identifying expected pore sizes.
• The model highlighted limitations of mercury intrusion porosimetry in an educational context.
• Simulations demonstrated that capillary forces significantly influence resin penetration in the dentinal porous network.

Conclusions:

• The developed numerical model provides insights into resin infiltration dynamics in demineralized dentine.
• Current clinical practices of resin application time are deemed sufficient for effective infiltration.
• Optimizing resin application involves ensuring the wetting phase is the resin itself for successful bonding.