A Critical Evaluation of Fatigue Studies for Restorative Materials in Dentistry

Fatigue tests are state of the art in dental materials testing for estimating the lifetime performance of materials or restorations. A number of different loading situations are tested with varying parameters, which are based on statistical methods or clinical experience. Partly, inadequate information is provided for a sufficient description and evaluation of the applied methods and resulting data. Several in vitro studies with limited clinical relevance have been published. This review gives a critical overview of fatigue methods published in dental literature. A clear differentiation should be made between fatigue tests for fundamental materials research and component testing of dental restorations. For structural testing, a correlation between in vitro data and in vitro performance is required. Correlation should be based on detailed evaluation of the clinical situation.