Standardized test methods for mechanical properties of dental prosthetic/restorative materials and their applications

A number of mechanical test protocols have been developed to evaluate the mechanical properties for dental prosthetic and conservative materials. This review article presents and discusses internationally standardized test methods including uniaxial and biaxial flexural test, compressive and diametral tensile tests, Weibull reliability test, fracture toughness tests, and their applications. There has been little information on the relationship between the results from standardized tests and clinical performance for dental materials. Thus, the mechanical properties resulting from standard tests can merely be used in evaluation of mechanical quality among various candidates. For more practical evaluation of mechanical performance of dental materials, there are needs for developing a quasi-clinical test protocol under considerations with stress concentration and distribution and clinical complexity. Furthermore, those results should be compared with the mechanical properties resulting from standardized tests.