Anterior Teeth Splint with Various Degrees of Alveolar Bone Loss; A 3D Finite Element Study

Abstract

Background: Splinting anterior teeth is a way to fix them after orthodontics treatments. Occlusal trauma from functional or parafunctional forces can cause stress increase and movements of teeth especially while having bone loss. Methods: Six anterior teeth with different bone levels were designed in SolidWorks (2010), the models were then transferred to ANSYS Workbench 12.1. The models were loaded with 187 N force on the incisal edges of two incisors. Results: Stress on canine was 0.45 MPa in normal bone height and increased to 0.60 MPa in five millimeters of anterior teeth bone loss. Labial displacement was less in normal alveolar bone height while it was increased in all those teeth with five millimeter of bone loss. Conclusions: Splinting distribute the forces between teeth and the stress production on canine increase while it splinted with low level bone incisors. Anterior teeth also showed tipping movements in reply to increased forces.