The Effect of Different Factors on Stress Distribution in a Molar Tooth

Objectives: The aim of present study was to evaluate the effect of different factors on the stress distribution of a molar tooth by finite element analysis. Materials and Methods: A 3D tooth model of a maxillary molar tooth was created for present study. The cavities (Class I and Class II) were created in the computer model. The cavities were restored with three different restorative materials (resin composite, amalgam and glass ionomer cement) in the computer model. Two thermal load (5 oC and 55 oC) and two mechanical load (mechanical singular load-perpendicular and mechanical distributed load-perpendicular) used in this study. Twelve study groups were created. The von Mises stress distribution was evaluated. Results: Von Mises stress values were not statistically significant different among the groups for restorative material and mechanical load factors (p>0.05) while there were statistically significant differences among the groups for cavity geometry and thermal load factors (p<0.05). Conclusions: Within the limitations of our study, the higher Von Mises stress values were found in Class I cavity for cavity geometry and 5°C for thermal load