Wear test combining simulated occlusal wear and toothbrush wear.

A new wear testing system, which carries out toothbrush wear and simulated occlusal wear tests alternately, was developed. Differences in wear behavior among three modes of wears, combined wear, toothbrush wear and simulated occlusal wear, were investigated using polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and two commercial resin composites (Z100, APX). The area of the material loss after each test was measured on the worn surfaces to evaluate the different modes of wears. On PMMA and Z100, the toothbrush wear corresponded to the combined wear, suggesting that toothbrush wear was dominant in the combined wear for these materials. On the other hand, the occlusal wear was dominant corresponding to the combined wear on APX. Both the simulated occlusal wear and toothbrush wear tests are essential to evaluate the wear behavior of restorative materials, and the combined wear test is effective to analyze the wear behavior of restorative materials under different wear processes which consist of toothbrush wear and simulated occlusal wear.