The numerical analysis of a restored tooth using meshless methods

Abstract

In this work it is study how the remaining coronal dentin and type of rehabilitation influences the strain, the stress distribution, and the fracture resistance of restored teeth. Thus, an advance discretization numerical technique - a meshless method - is used to analyse the effects of the rehabilitation technical solutions on the biomechanical behaviour of restored teeth. The meshless method used in this work is the Natural Neighbour Radial Point Interpolation Method (NNRPIM). Within the NNRPIM, the Natural Neighbour concept is used in order to enforce the nodal connectivity and to construct a node-depending background mesh. The NNRPIM interpolation functions possess the delta Kronecker property, which simplify the imposition of the natural and essential boundary condition. The objective of this work is to extend and validate the NNRPIM to the elasto-static numerical analysis of restored maxillary molar. Several numerical examples are analysed and the obtained results are compared with clinical cases.