No abstract

Tooth mobility examination is important in planning dental treatment, as it may give an indication of alveolar bone loss and the condition of the periodontal ligament. In clinical dental diagnosis a manual tooth mobility examination is useful. However, its determination of tooth mobility is subjective and depends on the skill and experience of the clinician. The authors have previously reported on a device for measuring the biomechanical properties of human periodontium using an impedance head. Using this device, the mechanical mobility of periodontium can be measured and the mechanical parameters of the periodontal physical model are obtained. Tooth mobility is defined objectively on the basis of discriminant scores of mechanical parameters, and a mobility triangle (MT) figure is drawn as a record for visual interpretation. The paper describes the validation of the mechanical mobility measurements and their interpretation using mobility parameters and a personal computer to produce a mobility triangle figure. The method is compared favourably with clinical mobility measurement. The relationship of the model to underlying pathology is tested by measurements performed on various tooth model systems.

Many methods have been clinically applied for the occlusal analysis in the intercuspal position. However, none of these methods are quantitative. This study described the new software version of the T-Scan system to record and analyze occlusal contact balance in the anterior-posterior and right-left directions. Six time moment statistics and five force moment statistics were calculated in the midsagittal and the incisal axes of the occlusal plane. In the present study, informed consent was obtained from 60 subjects with natural dentitions and from two patients with craniomandibular disorders. In normal subjects, the time moments and the force moments of occlusal contacts were symmetrical about the midsagittal axis of occlusal plane. The location of the center of effort for the antero-posterior occlusal contacts, which was measured from the incisal axis of occlusal plane, was also in the first molar region. However, any of the above mentioned statistics was abnormal in the patients with craniomandibular disorders.

This study was made to measure non-invasively the deep temperature of the tern

SummaryA tooth-movement transducer using bender-type piezoelectric ceramics was developed for the measurement probe of the Tooth Mobility tester. It is small, light and suitable for oral examination and it is possible to evaluate the tooth mobility of a molar in the direction of the tooth axis. The transducer utilizes a set of long and rectangular ceramic beam. It includes two supporting points and it is possible to adjust the resonance frequency by moving two points. This frequency is applied as the measuring frequency. The basic characteristics of the transducer and clinical applicability of the measurement probe are confirmed using an artificial tooth model and human tooth.