Energy Storage and Dissipation of Human Periodontal Ligament during Mastication Movement

As a layer of soft fibrous tissue, the periodontal ligament (PDL) protects against mechanical shock when transmitting mastication force from tooth to its surrounding alveolar bone. Currently, no quantitative method is available to estimate the shock resistance ability of the PDL. To solve this problem, in the present study we developed a finite element (FE) model of the tooth-PDL-bone complex and analyzed the energy storage and dissipation during the mastication movements. Displacement and Mises stress of tooth-PDL-bone complex show that the PDL is able to protect the alveolar bone from mechanical shock by shielding the transfer of deformation and stress. During mastication, the energy of the PDL is stored up to ∼161.5 J/mm³ at the period of loading and dissipated about one-tenth of the stored energy when unloading. The energy storage is displacement-dependent but time-independent because of the hyperelasticity of PDL. However, the energy dissipation is time- and displacement-dependent because of the viscoelasticity of PDL. The present study helps to understand the periodontal potential and the origin of dental diseases such as tooth concussion and occlusal trauma from the view of energy conversion.