Pilot Mechanical Evaluation of Date Seed Powder-Filled Dental Impression Material Using Conventional Statistics and Exploratory Distance-Based Computational Feature-Matching Analysis

Abstract

Natural bio-based fillers may support more sustainable dental impression materials, but their mechanical effects require verification. This study evaluated the compressive behavior of a light-body dental impression material containing 50 wt.% date seed powder (DSP) and explored whether a computational feature-matching approach could complement conventional statistics. Three specimens per formulation were compression-tested according to ASTM D575. Displacement was evaluated at human bite-force reference levels of 220, 260, 300, and 350 N. Welch’s independent-samples t-test was complemented by exploratory feature matching using seven original-domain and seven FFT-derived features, generating 14 features and 91 two-feature combinations. DSP showed consistently lower mean displacement than the Control, with differences of 0.147, 0.165, 0.182, and 0.201 mm, respectively; none reached statistical significance (p = 0.340, 0.311, 0.283, and 0.264). The computational analysis was concordant with the statistical findings, with the lowest standardized mean matched distance of 0.114497 and relatively limited separation in several top-ranked feature representations. Within the tested specimens, the DSP formulation showed encouraging compressive behavior and represents a promising sustainable natural filler. The exploratory computational approach also appears promising as a complementary multidimensional tool, but not a replacement for conventional statistical analysis.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Functional Biomaterials, 2026 · DOI ↗