Material characteristics can change significantly with increasing chewing velocity. As these in-vitro examinations are very time-consuming and cost-intensive, the application of finite element analysis (FEA) offers a suitable alternative for predicting the material behavior of complex specimen geometries under clinically relevant loads. Although FEA is applied within numerous dental investigations, there are only few studies available in which a nonlinear FEA is validated with real experiments. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to predict the mechanical behavior of a clinically close three-unit temporary bridge composed of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) in the left upper jaw with nonlinear FEA and to verify the prediction through validation experiments. In conclusion, simplifying assumptions of linear elastic material properties for polymeric materials should be avoided in FEA studies, because rate dependencies, stress relaxation and plastic flow are not considered. Additionally, precise preliminary investigations for material characterization are necessary.
Keywords: Dental materials; Finite element analysis; Materials science; Materials testing; Prosthodontics.