by Alex Francis
 

Next time you take a bite of food, chew a piece of gum, or even clench your teeth in frustration without having an implant fall out or a filling become dislodged in your mouth, take a moment to thank ART: the artificial mouth that has been testing the performance of fillings, crowns, and other restorative dental materials since 1983.

ART Revolutionizes the Dental Materials Industry

The machine was developed in 1983 at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and was the first piece of equipment to effectively replicate natural human chewing, including how much force is used and where that force is applied. It was chosen as one of the top 100 inventions in the year of its debut, and, now in its fifth generation, ART has proven to be invaluable in the testing of new dental materials without needing to involve human volunteers.
 
In addition to mimicking the motion and force of human chewing, ART is able to further simulate actual circumstances by using real or composite teeth and including a stream of water or artificial saliva. By measuring the surface profile of a given material before and after testing, the team can calculate the volume that would be lost after years of chewing. The artificial chewing machine has been used in the past to test everything from crowns and implants to orthodontic materials.
 
Because ART can fit an entire year’s worth of chewing into two days, it takes much of the guesswork out of how dental materials will stand up to real use throughout the years and allows companies to fix problems before their products even reach the clinical trial phase. And for the innovation that they have brought to the dental industry, the Minnesota Dental Research Center for Biomaterials and Biomechanics was awarded two separate William J. Gies Award for Vision, Innovation, and Achievement in the categories of “outstanding vision—public or private partner” and “outstanding vision—academic dental institution” by the American Dental Education Association Gies Foundation.
 
For more information about ART or to see the machine in action, check out the University of Minnesota’s Health Talk.

Get Cash for Dental Scrap

Despite advances made in the industry and testing done by ART, dental materials don’t always last forever. But rather than let old dental materials go to waste, you can exchange it for cash instead. At Cash for Dental Scrap, you can get cash for broken crowns, PFGs, and everything in between. To find out how you can turn your dental scrap into cash today, visit CashForDentalScrap.com.