College of Dentistry
Rocha Lab
Led by Mateus Rocha · Restorative Dental Sciences
What we study
The Rocha Lab studies dental biomaterials. Recent student projects measure shrinkage stress in dental filling materials as they harden and use spectrophotometry on silver nanoparticles for caries prevention; papers cover ceramics and cements.
What working here is like
- Wet lab
- No organisms (data only)
- No coding
- Projects
- 2
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Investigating the Polymerization Shrinkage Stress of Dental Composites: A Comparative Study
The lab measured how much pulling force builds up as six different dental filling materials harden, using a machine that records stress while a light cures the material for 20 seconds at 1000 mW/cm². The new universal composite FS showed the lowest stress (12.20 ± 0.92 MPa) and Reveal HD the highest (15.27 ± 1.23 MPa).
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 475
Spectrophotometric Analysis of Silver Nanoparticles for Dental Caries Prevention
The project looks at how tiny silver particles change color when mixed with different forms of the amino acid L‑arginine. Students measure the light absorption of these particles to see how the polymer size affects their color, which could help make better dental treatments.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 53
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Effect of Delayed Photoactivation and Touch‐Cure Mechanism on the Polymerization Kinetics of a Universal Resin Cement
2026 · Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry
Investigates how delayed light curing affects polymerization in a universal resin cement.
- Wear resistance of 3D‐printed and milled denture teeth materials for complete‐arch implant‐supported prostheses: An in vitro study
2026 · Journal of Prosthodontics
Compares wear resistance of 3D-printed and milled denture teeth materials for implant-supported prostheses.
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- Wavelength-dependent cytokine modulation in metabolically stressed fibroblasts
2026 · Journal of Applied Oral Science
Tests whether blue or red light affects stress responses in metabolically stressed cells.
- A Review of Current Systems, Materials, and Protocols for 3D ‐Printed Splints, Crowns, and Dentures
2026 · Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry
Reviews 3D printing technologies, materials, and protocols for splints, crowns, and dentures.
- Biaxial Flexural Strength of Lithium‐Based CAD / CAM Dental Glass‐Ceramics
2025 · Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry
Measures and compares biaxial flexural strength of lithium-based CAD/CAM dental ceramics.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Mateus Rocha hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.