Feasibility of Implant Strain Measurement for Assessing Mandible Bone Regeneration

Abstract

Nonunion is one of the most dreaded complications after operative treatment of mandible fractures or after mandible reconstruction using vascularized and non-vascularized bone grafts. Often diagnosis is made at advanced stage of disease when pain or complications occur. Devices that monitor fracture healing and bone regeneration continuously are therefore urgently needed in the craniomaxillofacial area. One promising approach is the strain measurement of plates. An advanced prototype of an implantable strain measurement device was tested after fixation to a locking mandible reconstruction plate in multiple compression experiments to investigate the potential functionality of strain measurement in the mandibular region. Compression experiments show that strain measurement devices work well under experimental conditions in the mandibular angle and detect plate deformation in a reliable way. For monitoring in the mandibular body, the device used in its current configuration was not suitable. Implant strain measurement of reconstruction plates is a promising methodical approach for permanent monitoring of bone regeneration and fracture healing in the mandible. The method helps to avoid or detect complications at an early point in time after operative treatment.

Level of Activity Changes Increases the Fatigue Life of the Porous Magnesium Scaffold, as Observed in Dynamic Immersion Tests, over Time

“…It also does not Sustainability 2023, 15, 823 2 of 13 make the bones heal spontaneously; they need other factors to support a perfect bone regeneration, such as levels of activity, where different activity levels will produce different strains in the bones [1]. It has been proven that the strain that occurs in the bones can help the regeneration process [2]. However, limiting the activity level to the correct portion is still necessary because the number of activities carried out repeatedly has also been known to result in fatigue stress damage to the implants under cyclic loading stresses, over time [3][4][5].…”