Creation Of A Three-dimensional Solid And Finite Element Biomechanical Model Of Temporomandibular Joint By Use Of The Images Of Chinese Visible Human

The development and reconstruction of temporomandibular joint(TMJ) are closely related to its biomechanical environment ,the biomechanical study of TMJ has been a hot issue in occlusion for many years. The indirect theoretical analysis has played an important role due to many difficulties in direct method to investigate the loading of TMJ. Among these indirect methods, finite element method(FEM) is most widely used .In previous studies, the FEM model was built up on the basis of CT,MRI or traditional slices, it's too imprecise for the fabricated TMJ due to the thickness of them varied from 1mm to 3mm and couldn't display the soft and hard tissues clearly at the same time. The aim of this study was to develop a precise FEM model of TMJ on the basis of images of Chinese Visible Human(CVH) by means of Reverse Engineering(RE) technology.Part I The reconstruction of 3-D solid model of TMJ Materials and Methods: The contours of TMJ, including cortical, cancellous bone, teeth, masticatory muscles, articular cartilage and periodontal ligament were obtained from the images of CVH by means of RE technology,After being registered and reparameterized ,the B-splineswere imported into UG software to construct the 3-D solid model.Results: A more precise 3-D solid model of TMJ was constructed,themodel can be observed from any views and can simulate many kinds ofdentition defects and crowding via layer control,rotation and Booleanoperation.Conclusion: On the basis of images of CVH, a complex 3-D solid modelof TMJ can be constructed more precisely by means of RE technology.Part II The construction of 3-D FEM model of TMJ Materials and methods: The 3-D solid model of TMJ ,teeth and periodontal ligament was exproted as IGES formatted files and imported into TrueGrid software to mesh with hex solid element.Afterwards,the model was imported into Patran software to mesh the surface of mandibular with triangle element, After being meshed entirely ,the model was imported into Marc to incorporate each other into one uniform FEM model. The cross-section areas and force directions of masticatory muscles were obtained from the 3-D solid Model.Results: The 3-D FEM model of TMJ including cortical, cancellous bone, mandibular dental arch, masticatory muscles, articular cartilage and periodontal ligament was constructed ,which consisted of 66122 nodes and 212704 elements.Conclusion: The FEM model was constructed more efficiently and the geometry similarity was improved after the precise Computer Aided...