Two-Body and Three-Body Wear Behavior of a Dental Fluorapatite Glass-Ceramic

As a veneering porcelain coating of dental prosthesis, two-body and three-body wear behavior of dental glass-ceramic with the main crystalline phase of fluorapatite has not been comprehensively studied. In this work, a self-made fluorapatite glass-ceramic was synthesized and the mechanical and tribological performances of the glass-ceramic were tested, comparing with a commercial feldspathic glass-ceramic. The friction and wear experiments were performed between disk-shaped glass-ceramics and natural teeth in two-body (dry, water, saliva) and three-body (slurry) modes, respectively. Results showed that good mechanical properties of fluorapatite glass-ceramic can be achieved by the sintering process. In both two-body and three-body modes, the fluorapatite glass-ceramic had a smaller friction coefficient and wear rate and caused less damage on antagonistic teeth than the feldspathic glass-ceramic. The greater mechanical properties give fluorapatite glass-ceramic a better wear resistance and reduce the adhesive wear.