Bone Remodeling Under Tooth Loading

摘要

The stability and success rate of orthopedic and dental implants are affected by their surrounding bone quality. Bone adapts to mechanical loads through remodeling activities to achieve new equilibrium in strain/stress state. The object of this study is to develop a numerical algorithm to simulate bone remodeling activities under mechanical loading. Finite element method is used to calculate the strain/stress distribution in the alveolar bone under tooth loading. The bone density remains unchanged near the equilibrium point of the mechanical stimulus; under greater or smaller mechanical stimulus, it increases or decreases. Iterations are performed to simulate the evolution of bone density. Effects of model geometry and adjacent teeth are studied. Effects of various applied loads and boundary conditions are compared. Simulation results are validated using computed tomography (CT) data of human mandibles. The implications of the results on patient-specific treatment and the insights for clinical techniques are also discussed.