Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 21, 2026

A 3-D Visualization Technique for Bone Remodeling in a Suture Expansion Mouse Model
Published on: August 18, 2023
[Analysis of stress on craniofacial skeleton sutures under protraction with three-dimensional finite element method]
Yan Sha1, Ying Deng, Shi-yu Fu
1Department of Stomatology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing 100029, China. sanhuosy@yahoo.com.cn
Purpose:
To investigate the biomechanical changes of craniofacial skeleton sutures protraction on the craniofacial complex at different angles.
Methods:
A three-dimensional finite element method (FEM) was developed from CT scan images by the technologies of three-dimensional reconstruction, image processing and meshing. The protraction force was applied to labial surface of the maxillary canine respectively from the angle of -40 degrees, 0 degrees or 40 degrees with occlusal plane. Biomechanical changes on different sutures was investigated by means of finite element analysis.
Results:
The stress on different sutures exhibited to be the least when protraction force was applied at the angle of -40 degrees with occlusal plane. Meanwhile, stress of frontozygomatic sutures was less than that of other sutures at the same condition. The stress of different points on craniofacial skeleton sutures was not the same in the same condition. Changes of the angles of protraction especially affected the stress of the frontomaxillary- nasalofrontal suture and nasalomaxillary suture.
Conclusions:
The stress of all the craniofacial skeleton sutures is the least when protraction applied from the angle of -40 degrees with occlusal plane. Moreover, the stress of different points on craniofacial skeleton sutures is not the same in the same condition.
Related Concept Videos
Sutures of the Skull
Sutures are immobile joints between adjacent bones of the skull. The narrow gap between the bones is filled with dense, fibrous connective tissue that unites the bones. The long sutures located between the skull bones are not straight but instead follow irregular, tightly twisting paths. These twisting lines tightly...
Stress: General Loading Conditions
The shearing force, possessing potential directionality within the plane of the section, is simplified into two component forces running parallel to the x and y axes.
Transformation of Plane Stress
Components of Stress
Interestingly, the hidden cube faces also experience these stresses, equal and opposite to those on the...
Three-Dimensional Analysis of Strain
Stress on an Oblique Plane

