An investigation into the importance of the periodontal ligament and alveolar bone as supporting structures in finite element studies

Many finite element analyses studies have been published in the dental literature. Some of these have analysed just the crown of the tooth, others have included part or all of the root, while others have included the supporting periodontal ligament and alveolar bone. The aim of this study was to examine which of the supporting structures was important to the model when analysing the stress distribution within a tooth. A two-dimensional plane strain finite element model of a lower second pre-molar was developed, which included the supporting periodontal ligament and alveolar bone. Two 50 N loads were applied to simulate the effect of a load in centric occlusion. The nodal x, y and shear stresses were recorded along two horizontal planes, one in the crown and one in the cervical region. Each of the supporting structures was systematically removed and the remaining structures reanalysed. It was found that it was particularly important to include both the periodontal ligament and alveolar bone when undertaking the finite element analyses of teeth.