Objective: To study the biomechanical changes induced by differences in perioral force in patients with missing anterior maxillary teeth at rest via finite element analysis (FEA).
Methods: Using conical beam CT (CBCT) images of a healthy person, models of the complete maxillary anterior dental region (Model A) and maxillary anterior dental region with a missing left maxillary central incisor (Model B) were constructed. The labial and palatine alveolar bone and tooth surface of the bilateral incisor and cusp regions were selected as the application sites, the resting perioral force was applied perpendicular to the tissue surface, and the changes in maxillary stress and displacement after the perioral force was simulated were analyzed.
Results: Compared with Model A, the labial alveolar bone in the missing tooth area of Model B shows significant stress concentration under the action of perioral force. This adverse stress is distributed in an inverted V-shape, concentrated at the top of the labial alveolar ridge and gradually decreases toward the root.
Conclusion: In the resting state, labial soft tissue exerts adverse stress on the alveolar ridge in areas missing maxillary anterior teeth. This stress may affect alveolar bone healing, causing a reduction in alveolar bone width.
Keywords: Alveolar ridge healing; Finite element analysis; Maxillary anterior teeth; Perioral force; Upper lip pressure.
© 2024. The Author(s).