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Abstract:This stress analysis determined the weak areas of five regions of the mid-third face and correlated the loaded regions with the resultant fracture patterns by using a three-dimensional finite element method. The infraorbital region together with the frontal surface of the zygomatic bone, and the three median regions of alveolar bone near the upper incisors, the frontal surface around the piriform aperture, and the frontonasomaxillary complex were loaded in the horizontal and sagittal planes. From each stress distribution calculated by the finite element analysis, fracture sites were predicted by Drucker-Prager's criterion of yielding and the peak strength of tension. The regions predicted to be fractured were found to be at the junctions between the face and the cranium and were found to vary depending upon the loading direction and the region loaded. The bones of the facial skeleton were inferred to be most vulnerable to a load which separates the face from the cranium and most resistant to a compressive load.