COMPUTATIONAL MODEL OF THE REMODELLING PROCESS OF MEDIAN PALATINE SUTURE DURING RAPID MAXILLARY EXPANSION: STUDY OF A MECANOBIOLOGY HYPOTHESIS

Ricardo Tadeu Oliveira Catta Preta¹; Libardo Andres Gonzalez Torres¹; João Vinícios Wirbitzki da Silveira¹

¹ UFVJM

doi:10.20906/CPS/COB-2015-1304

Resumo

At present, many works have been developed to study orthodontic and orthopedic treatments with biomechanical and mechanobiology approaches, helping to optimize and reduce the undesirable effects caused in some situations. This work analyzes the influence of mechanical stimuli that produce the remodelling of the Median Palatine Suture (MPS) after the application of RME technique. The problem is approached from a mechanobiology point of view, using the modelling of biological systems by means of differential equations and their solution using the finite element method. The aim of this study was to develop computational tools, using the finite element method, to help in the understanding how mechanical stimuli influence during the rapid maxillary expansion, and improve in the understanding of the effects of this technique on the MPS. This is done to propose guidelines for the correction of commonly observed undesirable effects. The first step was to review a proposed mechanobiology hypothesis to investigate whether or not the remodelling of the suture is regulated by mechanical stimuli generated during the RME and during physiological activities such as chewing. It was developed a mathematical model to represent the response of cells in the suture due to the presence of mechanical stimuli. For this, a revision of the finite element method was done; the method was used for the implementation of computational solution of the model using various types of analysis programmed in the commercial software Abaqus V6.12. The implementation of the model allows to study the evolution the MPS when subjected to chewing forces. The proposed model in this study allowed to observe that the mechanical stimulate have an important role on remodelling of the median palatine suture, but do not seem to be the only stimulus that affect this process, biological and chemical factors such as vascularization could also influence the process.

Palavras-chave: finite element method; mechanobiology; rapid maxillary expansion