Orthodontically Induced External Root Resorption: A Finite Element Analysis

Background/Objectives: This finite element analysis (FEA) assessed stress distribution in the tooth and dentin within an intact periodontium under 4 N of force and five orthodontic movements (intrusion, extrusion, rotation, tipping, and translation), using four failure criteria commonly used in numerical dental studies. Secondly, differences between brittle- and ductile-like failure criteria were found, and the most accurate criterion was determined. Additionally, movements more prone to inducing external orthodontic root resorption were assessed. Methods: Using nine 3D models of the second lower premolar, 180 numerical simulations were performed. The models were anatomically accurate based on CBCT scans. FEA employed the brittle-like Maximum Principal (MaxP), Minimum Principal (MinP), and ductile-like Von Mises (VM) and Tresca (T). Results: The results showed that tipping was less prone to external orthodontic root resorption than translation, extrusion, intrusion, and rotation, which showed areas of high stress concentration in the cervical third of the root. High-stress areas were visible only when the dentin-pulp-NVB components were separately analyzed, and not when the entire tooth structure was assessed. Only by correlating the qualitative with the quantitative results could the difference between brittle-like and ductile-like failure criteria be seen. Conclusions: In total, 4 N of applied orthodontic force can induce limited islands of external orthodontic root resorption (intrusion-extrusion on the vestibular side, rotation-translation on the lingual and distal-lingual sides). The ductile-like failure criteria maintained the accuracy of the results across all FEA simulations, while the brittle-like criteria showed various quantitative and qualitative inconsistencies.