Asymptomatic enamel and dentin cracks can pose a risk for multiple pathological and undesired consequences if intervention is postponed. This article reviews asymptomatic enamel and dentin cracks, and presents current management approaches utilized by a sample of general dentists. Becoming familiar with all forms of asymptomatic enamel and dentin cracks is crucial to adopting a proactive approa...

The opening profile of the cracks produced in the Double Cleavage Drilled Compression (DCDC) specimens for brittle materials is investigated. The study is achieved by combining Finite Element simulations of a DCDC linear elastic medium with experimental measurements by crack opening interferometry on pure silica glass samples. We show that the shape of the crack can be described by a simple exp...

Dental enamel is highly transparent at near-IR wavelengths and several studies have shown that these wavelengths are well suited for optical transillumination for the detection and imaging of tooth decay. We hypothesize that these wavelengths are also well suited for imaging cracks in teeth. Extracted teeth with suspected cracks were imaged at several wavelengths in the near-IR from 1300-1700-n...

A new algorithm is described which extends the material point method (MPM) to allow explicit cracks within the model material. Conventional MPM enforces velocity and displacement continuity through its background grid. This approach is incompatible with cracks which are displacement and velocity discontinuities. By allowing multiple velocity fields at special nodes near cracks, the new method (...

UNLABELLED The diagnoses of cracked teeth and incomplete coronal fracture have historically been symptom based. The dental operating microscope at 16x magnification can fundamentally change a clinician's ability to diagnose such conditions. Clinicians have been observing cracks under extreme magnification for nearly a decade. Patterns have become clear that can lead to appropriate treatment pri...

This paper presents numerical analysis of stress intensity factors (SIFs) of inclined cracks due to mechanical mismatches. According to literature survey, tremendous amounts of SIFs can be found elsewhere. However, the SIFs for inclined cracks are difficult to obtain especially when mechanical mismatch at the crack interface are considered. ANSYS finite element program is used to model the crac...

This paper studies the initiation of cohesive cracks in the thermal shock problem through a variational analysis. A two-dimensional semi-infinite slab with an imposed temperature drop on its free surface is considered. Assuming that cracks are periodically distributed and orthogonal to the surface, at short times we show that the optimum is a distribution of infinitely close cohesive cracks. Th...

A new technique using contrast enhanced micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) was developed to improve the ability to detect dentinal cracks in teeth and assess associated risks to oral health. Extracted, whole human molars that exhibited visual evidence of external cracks following extraction and machined, partially fractured elephant dentin specimens were labeled by BaSO(4) precipitation and i...

The effect of preexisting subsurface cracks on the strength of lap splices was investigated. Ten full-scale beams with No. 11 (No. 36) bars and lap splice lengths of 33, 79, and 120 in. (838, 2007, and 3048 mm) were tested. The beams had mitigating features that prevented catastrophic failure upon propagation of the preexisting cracks, such as staggered splices and the presence of some reinforc...

Controlled vertical drying deposition method was used to make high-quality single crystal close-packed colloidal films formed of different radii polystyrene latex spheres on glass substrates coming from a low concentration water suspension (0.1% volume fraction). Regardless of the spheres radii the film thickness was about 6.3 microns. However, cracks destroyed the crystalline film structure du...