Methodology Proposal Using CAD/CAE for the Quantitative Analysis of Contact Forces in Dental Occlusion

In dentistry, occlusion is the way in which the teeth of the upper arch fit together with those of the lower arch and determines the mechanical functioning of the mouth for biting, chewing, swallowing or speaking. Mandibular dynamics studies the forces that occur between the contacts of the teeth in occlusion. Due to the importance of this issue, and taking advantage of the potential of finite element technology available in commercial software packages for industrial design, a study has been developed to calculate the magnitudes and directions of the contact forces. Considering the geometric complexity of a denture, simple geometries have been used instead of real teeth ones for a preliminary phase of the study. The development of the study consists of the next phases: creating or importing the geometry of the teeth, placing the teeth on a mandibular and a maxillary base, positioning the upper denture with respect to the lower one, setting a linear static analysis using finite elements method and establishing individualized contact conditions between the teeth, and finally obtaining and analyzing the results. The viability of the method has been tested with an example, and it has been verified that it is possible to calculate the dental contact forces for different occlusion scenarios and thus identify the existing problems.