Comparative analysis of hybrid MCDM methods in material selection for dental applications

Ascertaining the appropriate material through detailed functionalities out of numerous existing materials is a complex and time-consuming exercise. Hence, it is essential to follow a methodical and resourceful approach to decide on the best material for any given application. This paper aims to demonstrate the capability of five distinct Hybrid Multi Criteria Decision Making (HMCDM) methods in identifying the best polymer based biomaterial used in dentistry. A total of seven materials were evaluated based on ten criteria. At first, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to determine the weights of the recognized criterion. Later, AHP-VIKOR, AHP-TOPSIS, AHP-MOORA, AHP-ELECTRE, and AHP-PROMTHEE procedures were used to rank the materials. The methodologies have displayed their effectiveness by providing the equivalent ranking to the materials. Finally, spearman's rank correlation was determined to compare HMCDM methods. The comparative analysis revealed that AHP-VIKOR, AHP-TOPSIS, and AHP-PROMETHEE have a greater correlation compared to AHP-MOORA and AHP-ELECTRE.