Chewing pressure vs. wear of composites and opposing enamel cusps.

The effects of various chewing pressures on the wear of composites and enamel were assessed in vitro. Standardized composite discs (8 mm in diameter, 2 mm in height) were made of a fine-particle hybrid (FPH), a coarse-particle hybrid (CPH), and a homogeneous microfilled composite (HMC). The composite specimens were chemically degraded by immersion in 75% ethanol for 24 h, brushed for 30 min, and then thermocycled 300 times (5-55-5 degrees C) while being occlusally loaded 120,000 times at 1.7 Hz, with chewing forces of 25, 50, 75, and 100 N. Standardized human enamel cusps with a uniform contact area of 0.384 mm2 served as antagonists in the chewing machine. Wear of the composites and enamel cusps, their combined wear, and the increase of the enamel contact surfaces were quantified. An increase in chewing pressure significantly enhanced the wear of both composite and enamel in all groups except for the antagonists opposing a HMC. The FPH was most wear-resistant to in vitro chewing pressures in the range of 6.58 to 19.74 MN/m2, the CPH at 26.32 MN/m2, while the HMC was the most enamel-friendly of the three composites tested. The FPH composite had the least disintegration in the occlusal contact area. The ranking of the composites generally varied at the different chewing pressures with respect to the three types of quantified wear--that is, composite wear, enamel wear, and total wear.