Alterations to Titanium Surface Depending on the Fluorides and Abrasives in Toothpaste.

Fluoride and abrasives in toothpastes may cause corrosion and deterioration of the titanium used for implants and other prostheses. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the presence or absence and types of fluoride and abrasives affected the titanium surface texture. Brushing with toothpastes was performed on pure-titanium discs using an abrasive testing machine. Unprocessed titanium discs without brushing were used as control samples. Surface roughness, color, and gloss of titanium were measured and the differences compared with the control were analyzed. Additionally, titanium surfaces and abrasives in toothpastes were observed using a scanning electron microscope to compare the surface texture of each sample. Some toothpastes (abrasive+) significantly increased the difference in surface roughness, color, and gloss, compared with ultrapure water. Toothpaste (fluoride+/abrasive+) that had many polygonal abrasive particles led to the largest color differences and exhibited notable scratches and a larger number of contaminant- or corrosion-like black spots. In contrast, brushing with toothpaste without fluoride or abrasives (fluoride-/abrasive-) caused little change to the titanium surface. These results suggest that both fluoride and abrasives in toothpaste used for brushing may be factors that affect surface texture and corrosion resistance of titanium.

Fabrication of all-ceramic crowns by a new method.

A new method of all-ceramic production using alumina coping has been developed. The present study investigates the influence of secondary firing (glass infiltration firing) conditions. Samples of porcelain build-up without secondary firing were also assessed. The suitability of coping that included secondary firing was found to be affected by the rate of temperature increase during the secondary firing. However, cracking developed in the fired porcelain if porcelain was built up onto secondarily-fired coping. In contrast, cracking did not occur with coping that was not secondarily fired. The bending strength after porcelain build-up was 70 MPa or higher, suggesting the possibility of clinical applications as an anterior crown. These findings establish that this is method of producing all-ceramic crowns that allows for low-cost manufacture in a short period of about 1 h.

Metallurgical effects on titanium by laser welding on dental stone.

It is not known for certain that dental stone components influence titanium welding. In this study, we investigated metallurgical problems caused by laser welding on dental stones using wrought commercial pure (CP) titanium. A pulsed Nd:YAG laser irradiated a number of specimens' surfaces which were fixed on either a dental hard stone or a titanium plate. The metallurgical properties of the weld were evaluated using the Vickers hardness test, microstructure observation, fractured surface observation and quantitative analysis of oxygen and hydrogen. In the weld formed on the dental stone there was an increase in hardness, the existence of an acicular structure and a brittle fractured surface, and an increase in the oxygen and hydrogen concentrations compared with base metal. In the weld formed on the titanium plate, these changes were not observed. Therefore, it was demonstrated that laser welding on dental stones made the welds brittle.

Development of noncarcinogenic ring liner for dental casting and its basic properties.

Although ceramic fiber is widely used in ring liners for dental casting, its carcinogenicity is a matter of concern. We investigated the use of noncarcinogenic biosoluble fiber for ring liners. Plate-shaped biosoluble fiber was modified to obtain the same setting expansion as that of a commercial ring liner as a prototype, and we subjected it to scanning electron microscopic observation, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, and a tensile test. The main components of the prototype were Mg, Si, and O and those of the commercial sample were Al, Si, and O. The prototype and commercial samples were mostly amorphous when not heated, and crystalline components were observed after heating. The tensile strength was significantly different between the prototype and commercial samples, but the difference was small and not problematic with regard to the ring liner strength.