Hardness, friction and wear studies on hydrogen peroxide treated bovine teeth

• DOI: 10.1016/j.triboint.2014.12.024
• Publication Date: 2015-01-02T16:16:42Z
• Authors: S. Mundra; V. Mohan; J. Gwyer; N. Young; S.E. Franklin; L.-C. Gerhardt
• Keywords: 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine

Abstract A possible problem with peroxide based tooth whitening is the loss of tooth hardness and higher susceptibility to enamel surface wear. This study focussed on the effects of acidic and neutral hydrogen peroxide solutions (6 and 30% w/v) on hardness, friction and wear of bovine enamel. The experiments showed that treatments with neutral peroxide reduced wear and the loss of enamel hardness up to 2–3 times. In addition, further investigation on remineralisation with amorphous calcium phosphate showed an increase in hardness after treatment. Friction coefficients of teeth against steel varied between 0.25 and 0.7, and wear coefficients ranged between ≈10−6 and 10−7 mm3/N m. From this study, it is possible to explain the wear behaviour of HP treated enamel with changes in hardness.