Occlusal stresses in beveled versus non-beveled tooth preparation
Zuzanna Apel, Behzad Vafaeian, Derek B. Apel, Ahmed Hussain
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate occlusal stresses in beveled versus non-beveled tooth preparation in class I restoration when using composite restorative material. Completed plastic tooth preparations were scanned using a 3D intra-oral scanner. Then the files were further processed using meshing software. The Finite Element Method (FEM) was used to model the performance of one non-beveled and two different types of beveled restorations which were being subjected to the chewing forces. The performed FEM simulations illustrated the benefits of the beveled restorations for composite Class I restorations. This is an experimental study. Further research is needed to provide more information to determine the benefits of beveling in teeth preparation both in in-vitro and in-vivo studies. The outcome of this study illustrates the advantage of using bevel over no bevel during class I cavity preparation.