Two‐body wear of occlusal splint materials

Summary  This study investigates the wear resistance of four different types of occlusal splint materials based on two‐body wear simulations under wet and dry conditions. Twenty specimens of each splint material (Dentalon Plus, Orthoplast, Biocryl C, and Eclipse), each with a diameter of 16 mm and a thickness of 3 mm, were tested, half under wet and half under dry conditions. Each wear test was performed using a device called chewing simulator CS‐4 ( n  = 10; test load: 50 N; number of cycles: 10 000, 20 000, and 30 000; continuous rinsing with 30 °C water for wet conditions); the antagonists were simulated using steel balls. Wear was determined using a 3D laser scanner and a surface analysis program. To detect significant statistical differences, wear data after 10 000; 20 000; and 30 000 cycles were compared using the Kruskal–Wallis test and the Mann–Whitney U ‐test. The level of significance was set at 5%. Significant differences were found between the groups of different materials tested under wet conditions ( P  < 0·05), whereas no differences between them were found under dry conditions ( P  > 0·05). No significant difference was found between the wet and dry conditions for all materials and cycles ( P  > 0·05). For groups of different materials tested under wet conditions, the degree of volume loss generated in the Chewing Simulator CS‐4 was found to differ significantly for different numbers of cycles. The presence of water had no effect on the volume loss in the different material groups that were tested.