Mohammed Naeem Sheikh

• BDS Dentistry
• The effect of non-ideal illumination on the properties of new dental composite based filling materials

When teeth are decayed dentists often needs to fill the tooth with a filling material. Amalgam has been the material traditionally used by dentists but it does not last forever, does not look like the surrounding teeth and contains mercury, which has led to some public health concerns. Alternatively, dentists can use composites, which can be made to look tooth-like and do not contain mercury. However, due to difficulties in how they are placed, particularly due to difficulties in consistently placing the light unit used to set the composites in a tooth, they do not last as long as amalgam.
In this project we will look at some bulk-fill composites, claimed to be easier to use, and study how the distance and angle the light unit is to the composite surface affects how well they set and how hard the composites are over a period of four weeks water storage.

Funding source: Newcastle University

Supervisor: Dr Matthew German