Introduction to Teeth - Dental Biotribology - page 2

and defined by Dowson and Wright in 1973 as “those aspects of tribology con-
cerned with biological systems” [ 1 ].
Biotribology is currently one of the most exciting and rapidly growing areas of
tribology. The range of research activities is immense and spans many scientific
fields. A considerable number of papers on biotribology have been published in
various journals. In addition, many sessions of conferences, national or interna-
tional forums, workshops, and symposia have been held on biotribology or on top-
ics related to it. For example, in 1967, the symposium on Lubrication and Wear in
Living and Artificial Human Joints was organized and held in London by the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers in collaboration with the British Orthopaedic
Association; it attracted over 160 delegates. In 1996, a report of a workshop orga-
nized by Lloyd et al. was published. Eighty delegates contributed to a valuable dis-
cussion; the purpose was to bring together tribologists, clinicians, and dental
materials scientists to discuss the fundamental mechanisms of wear and how to
obtain manifestations and conduct measurements of wear in dentistry [ 2 ].
Subsequently, the First Vienna Symposium on Biomechanical Engineering was
organized during the 2nd World Congress on Tribology in 2001. The Symposium
on Human-related Tribology during the 4th World Congress on Tribology in 2009
and the 6th International Biotribology Forum in 2011 were also held [ 3 - 6 ]. However,
the meeting with the largest scale was the 2011 International Conference on
Biotribology held at Imperial College, London [ 7 ]. To the surprise of the Organizing
Committee, 175 abstracts for oral and poster presentations on various subjects were
received, such as artificial hip joints, skin and haptics, personal care products, artic-
ular cartilage, human teeth, lifestyle and home healthcare devices, artificial heart
valves, bones, hair, and eyes, and about 300 delegates from over 20 countries par-
ticipated in the conference, which shows the growth and diversity of the research
area of biotribology. Evidently, there have been many more scientific sessions on
the topic of biotribology in various conferences and meetings. This shows that bio-
tribology has been one of the most studied and active research areas in the field of
tribology.

1.2 Classifications and Definitions

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's
(OECD) Glossary of Terms and Definitions in the field of friction, wear, and lubri-
cation (tribology), wear is defined as http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/ “the progressive
loss of substance from the operating surface of a body occurring as a result of rela-
tive motion at the surface.” In the field of tribology, five wear mechanisms rather
than wear modes have been frequently recognized: abrasion, adhesion, fatigue, ero-
sion, and corrosion. In most cases, two or more wear mechanisms combine together
and contribute to the material degradation processes.
Wear by abrasion is associated with the displacement of material from a rela-
tively soft solid by the protuberances on a harder counterface, or by loose, harder