What is Biomimetics: Histo-anatomic approach and dynamic light interaction
- Jeff Davies
- Nov 10, 2015
- 1 min read
Photo Source: The International Journal of Esthetic Dentistry. Found: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25126615
Three things that need to be considered when attempting to restore the optical features of an intact tooth, they are: the inherent translucent nature of enamel, the dentinoenamel complex (DEC), and dentin.
The difficulty with applying all of these concepts is finding the right material. Translucent materials can easily alter colors due to their interaction with light. Comparing the three, enamel is translucent, the DEC is transparent, while the dentin is opaque. When considering these terms, finding the right restorative material is of the utmost importance to match the existing color palate of the intact tooth. To make things more complicated, surface texture, gloss, and luster need to also be remembered.
The way light interacts with the tooth and the exact layers of it has dramatic effect on how we look at an intact tooth. Light reacts to teeth in four ways:
Color: the light is scattered with the layers of the tooth and later on, reflected out
Transparency, translucency, opacity: light is transmitted and diffused though the tooth
Energy: light is absorbed and transferred into heat, energy, photoluminescence
Fluorescence: light gets re-radiated with a lower energy source
Drs Panaghiotis Bazos and Pascal Magne go more into detail in their fantastic article. To fully understand biomimetics, one must look at the layers and understand what the properties are of each layer and how they interact with the rest of the mouth, in this case, esthetics. Please take a look at the article, which can be found here, to understand how dynamic light impacts the natural dentition.
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