Simulation of orthodontic force of archwire applied to full dentition using virtual bracket displacement method

Abstract

Objective Orthodontic force simulation of tooth provides important guidance for clinical orthodontic treatment. However, previous studies did not involve the simulation of orthodontic force of archwire applied to full dentition. This study aimed to develop a method to simulate orthodontic force of tooth produced by loading a continuous archwire to full dentition using finite element method. Method A three‐dimensional tooth‐periodontal ligament‐bone complex model of mandible was reconstructed from computed tomography images, and models of brackets and archwire were built. The simulation was completed through two steps. First, node displacements of archwire before and after loading were estimated through moving virtual brackets to drive archwire deformation. Second, the obtained node displacements were loaded to implement the loading of archwire, and orthodontic force was calculated. An orthodontic force tester (OFT) was used to measure orthodontic force in vitro for the validation. Results After the simulation convergence, archwire was successfully loaded to brackets, and orthodontic force of teeth was obtained. Compared with the measured orthodontic force using the OFT, the absolute difference of the simulation results ranged from 0.5 to 22.7 cN for force component and ranged from 2.2 to 80.0 cN•mm for moment component, respectively. The relative difference of the simulation results ranged from 2.5% to 11.0% for force component, and ranged from 0.6% to 14.7% for moment component, respectively. Conclusions The developed orthodontic force simulation method based on virtual bracket displacement can be used to simulate orthodontic force provided by the archwire applied to full dentition.

Efficient Design of a Clear Aligner Attachment to Induce Bodily Tooth Movement in Orthodontic Treatment Using Finite Element Analysis

“…The birth and death FE analysis method described by Zhou et al [ 35 ] was employed in the loading and boundary conditions of this study. The simulation analysis was divided into two processes ( Figure 3 ).…”

Biomechanical Efficacy and Effectiveness of Orthodontic Treatment with Transparent Aligners in Mild Crowding Dentition—A Finite Element Analysis

“…To verify the validity of the simulated fixed appliance finite element model and force conditions for reflecting clinical orthodontic treatment conditions, in vitro orthodontic force was measured (Figure 7) [20,24]. As described by Zhou et al [20], an experimental environment was established to measure the orthodontic force generated by the transparent aligners and the fixed appliance. The orthodontic force on the central incisor (#31) was measured as in orthodontic treatment analysis.…”

“…To compensate for the drawbacks of these clinical and in vitro studies, several studies have evaluated the biomechanical effects of orthodontic treatment through FE analysis. FE analysis is possible to simulate the orthodontic treatment through the reflect of PDLs and to predict phenomena that are difficult to investigate through in vitro experiments [15][16][17][18][19][20]. Gomez et al [16] and Kim et al [17] simulated a model of the tooth-alveolar bone structure through a FE method and analysed the biomechanical effects of orthodontic treatment using transparent aligners.…”

“…In addition, no study directly compared transparent aligners and fixed appliances [16][17][18][19]. In particular, no study that conducted FE analysis reflected the actual orthodontic treatment environment, except the study by Zhou et al [20]. However, these studies have limitations in that they do not apply actual orthodontic forces or consider the nonlinear material properties of the PDL.…”

Orthodontic force/torque modeling and experiment of Kitchon root‐controlled auxiliary archwire

“…Current research on orthodontic archwire mechanics has focused on FEA, [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] and experimental measurements. [19][20][21][22][23] Although these methods obtain a certain relationship between orthodontic force/torque and archwire deformation.…”