Do Exostoses Correlate with Contact Disfunctions? A Case Study of a Maxillary Exostosis

Maria Valigi,Silvia Logozzo

doi:10.3390/lubricants7020015

Abstract

A maxillary exostosis is a benign overgrowth of bone that occurs on the outer or facial surface of the maxilla and is usually located near the premolar or molar teeth. This paper investigates the correlation between the presence and growth of jaw exostoses and the oral mechanics of contact. For this purpose, a case study of an upper jawbone exostosis of a female patient was considered. 3D models of the patient’s cranial bones were extracted from 2D computerized tomography (CT) data and were analyzed by proper software. A contact congruence evaluation based on the Winkler contact model was performed, and results were presented in terms of indentation maps and load distributions. Results were correlated with the theory of bone remodelling by Wolff.

Highlights

Oral exostoses are benign bone neoformations composed entirely of compact bone, with deeper parts that may contain spongy bone
The elastic foundation contact model by Winkler is applied in civil and industrial According to Conconi et al [16,17,18], joint congruence measurements can be obtained by settings [19,20,21,22,23,24], and in analyzing the contact for soft biological tissues [25]
The results were presented in terms of indentation maps, which represent the distribution of Theloads results were presented in terms of indentation maps, which the distribution of contact from a purely geometric analysis

Summary

Introduction

Oral exostoses are benign bone neoformations composed entirely of compact bone, with deeper parts that may contain spongy bone. They originate from the cortical surface of the maxilla or the mandible. Oral exostoses have been extensively studied for more than one century, but they remain an unexplained anatomical trait. The onset of oral exostoses has been correlated with many aetiologies—mainly genetic, environmental, and mechanical etiologies [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. The etiology of oral exostoses can be considered a complex, multifactorial process.

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