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Dental Tribune Nordic Edition No. 4, 2015

03Dental Tribune Nordic Edition | 4/2015 WORLD NEWS By DTI ZURICH, Switzerland: Materials re- searchers from ETH Zurich (the Swiss federal institute of technol- ogy) have developed a new pro- cedure that allows them to mimic the structure of biological com- posite materials, such as teeth and seashells. Using the new technique, they produced an artificial tooth whose surface is as hard and structurally complex as a real tooth, while the layer beneath is softer, just like natural dentine. “Our technique is similar to 3-D printing, but ten times faster and much more cost-effective,” said Dr Florian Bouville, a postdoctoral researcher from the ETH study group. The new method, called magnetically assisted slip casting (MASC), allows for the creation of complex composite materials that are almost perfect imitations of their natural models. In order to demonstrate the technique’s potential for future applications in dentistry, the re- searchers produced an artificial tooth.“The profile of hardness and toughness obtained from the ar- tificial tooth corresponds exactly with that of a natural tooth,” said lead researcher Dr André Studart, Professor of Complex Materials at ETH, pleased with the results. In the MASC process, a plaster cast is filled with a suspension containing magnetised ceramic platelets. In order to achieve the unique structure of the natural models,inwhichnumerousmicro- platelets are joined together in different layers, a magnetic field is applied during the hardening pro- cess and its orientation changed at regular intervals. The ceramic platelets align to the magnetic field,resultinginlayerswithdiffer- ing material properties in a single object. Although the MASC results are promising, the appearance of the material has to be significantly im- provedbeforethetechniquecanbe used for dental prostheses, Studart remarked. For the time being, the results offer proof that the natural fine structure of a tooth can be re- produced in the laboratory. Althoughothermethodsexistto imitate nacre or tooth enamel, up to now it was a challenge to create a material that mimics the com- plexstructureoftheentireseashell or tooth. As reported on the EHT website, the magnetisation and orientation of the ceramic platelets in the MASC process has already been patented. The study, titled “Magnetically assisted slip casting of bioinspired heterogeneous composites”, was published online on 21 September in the Nature Materials journal. AD Artificial tooth mimics nature Layer structure of the artificial tooth undertheelectronmicroscope. Natural tooth in its gypsum mold,artifi- cial tooth (sintered but not yet polymer infiltrated), finished artificial tooth em- beddedina“puck”toenablepolishing.

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