Collaborative Research: Investigating human dental senescence with a mechanically simulated model of dental wear progression

Dental wear is a common but poorly understood process that progresses over the lifespan of an individual. In time, dental wear leads to dental senescence and significant dental costs. This study investigates the progression of dental wear over the course of fifty years of simulated chewing.

The study employs complementing methodologies to measure changes in chewing function, and in tooth’s shape, structure, and elemental composition. The data captures the onset and development of dental senescence, advancing an understanding of dental wear to benefit the fields of biological anthropology, oral biology, and dentistry. This project provides STEM training opportunities to a postdoctoral scientist and undergraduate students.

The project engages elementary school students through the production of dental anatomy learning kits that promote knowledge and good oral health.

This project investigates the impact of longitudinal dental wear in humans at four distinct scales: (1) dental function; (2) occlusal topography; (3) dental microstructure; and (4) elemental composition. The study utilizes extracted third molars, and an Artificial Resynthesis Technology (ART VII) chewing simulator, capable of replicating a year of human chewing cycles in a single day.

This unique equipment allows for a direct assessment of changes associated with longitudinal dental wear in human teeth without using in vivo or comparative approaches. Unworn occluding pairs of third molars are positioned in the ART VII, where they chew foods with different material properties over a simulated 50-year period. At five-year intervals, changes in dental function are evaluated by quantifying: (1) chewing efficiency; (2) occlusal topography; (3) dental microstructure; and (4) enamel elemental composition.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.