Dental Wear Surface Using 3D Profilometry

Tooth wear, the loss of tooth material due to reasons other than cavities and sudden dental trauma over the course of a lifetime, is a normal process in all adults. The topmost layer of a tooth is enamel, which is the hardest substance in the human body, and cannot be naturally restored. Enamel can wear away from tooth-to-tooth, tooth-to-foreign body, or tooth-to-dental crown wear, as well as a result of exposure to acidic environments. It is important to be able to precisely measure the wear rate, volume loss, and change in topography of a tooth or dental crown in order to be able to effectively slow down tooth wear. All these calculations can be made using a surface subtraction study.

Surface subtraction studies are critical in any application looking at the topographic change in a relatively small area in relation to the entire sample. Such studies can effectively quantify surface wear, corrosion, or the degree of similarity between two parts or molds. Being able to precisely measure the surface area and volume loss of an area of interest is vital in order to properly design wear or corrosion resistant coatings, films, and substrates.

Unlike other techniques such as touch probes or interferometry, the 3D Non-Contact Profilometer, using axial chromatism, can measure nearly any surface, sample sizes can vary widely due to open staging, and there is no sample preparation needed. Nano through macro range is obtained during Volume and/or Area measurement, among many others, with zero influence from sample reflectivity or absorption. The system has advanced ability to measure high surface angles and there is no software manipulation of results. Easily measure any material: transparent, opaque, specular, diffusive, polished, rough etc. The technique of the 3D Non-Contact Profilometer provides an ideal, broad and user friendly capability to maximize surface studies of wear or corroded surfaces in both 2D/3D with bench top & portable options.

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The tooth was mounted in a polymer resin, and fixed in place using a vice, as shown in Fig. 1. Using the optical line sensor, a high resolution 15 x 15 mm scan was made of the entire top surface of the tooth in under 2 minutes. The 3D view of the tooth before any wear is shown in Fig. 2a, and different amounts of wear are shown in Fig. 2b-d.

The surface subtraction of the ‘no wear’ and ‘significant wear’ scans can be seen in Fig. 3. Each peak corresponds to material lost between the two scans. Most of the material worn away was on the peaks in each corner of the tooth.

The surface area and volume loss of the top left and bottom left areas of the tooth are calculated in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5. A similar analysis could be done for holes on the surface subtraction study. Thus, differences between two scans in both the positive and negative z-directions, as well as resulting surface area and volume differences, can be compared simultaneously if needed.

In many cases, viewing the intensity measurements of the scan, in addition to the height data, can reveal important information. As seen in Fig. 6, in this application, the intensity measurement of the post-wear scans can reveal where the enamel has completely worn away and revealed the tooth’s dentin, due to the differing reflectivity of the two layers.

The unknown features of a wear area were precisely characterized using the NANOVEA ST400 non-contact profilometer. The optical line sensor allowed a high resolution scan of a large area at a fast speed. By comparing the pre and post surfaces, it has been clearly shown how the surface subtraction can provide for the precise volume loss measurement over the area of wear. From the 3D surface measurements, areas of interest can quickly be identified and then analyzed for desired measurements (Dimension, Roughness Finish Texture, Shape Form Topography, Flatness Warpage Planarity, Volume Area, Step-Height Depth Thickness and others). With this information wear and corroded surfaces can be broadly investigated with a complete set of surface measurement resources.

The data shown here represents only a portion of the calculations available in the analysis software. NANOVEA Profilometers measure virtually any surface in fields including Semiconductor, Microelectronics, Solar, Fiber Optics, Automotive, Aerospace, Metallurgy, Machining, Coatings, Pharmaceutical, Biomedical, Environmental and many others.