title: Mesh management methods in finite element simulations of orthodontic tooth movement.
abstract: In finite element simulations of orthodontic tooth movement, one of the challenges is to represent long term tooth movement. Large deformation of the periodontal ligament and large tooth displacement due to bone remodelling lead to large distortions of the finite element mesh when a Lagrangian formalism is used. We propose in this work to use an Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) formalism to delay remeshing operations. A large tooth displacement is obtained including effect of remodelling without the need of remeshing steps but keeping a good-quality mesh. Very large deformations in soft tissues such as the periodontal ligament is obtained using a combination of the ALE formalism used continuously and a remeshing algorithm used when needed. This work demonstrates that the ALE formalism is a very efficient way to delay remeshing operations.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom. Electronic address: m.mengoni@leeds.ac.uk.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mengoni
authors.affiliation: Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Non-linear Computational Mechanics (LTAS/MN(2)L), University of Liege (ULg), Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: J-P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Ponthot
authors.affiliation: Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Non-linear Computational Mechanics (LTAS/MN(2)L), University of Liege (ULg), Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Boman
mesh_terms: D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D008954:Models, Biological; D009970:Orthodontics; D012984:Software; D014087:Tooth Movement Techniques
keywords: Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian formalism; Finite element method; Orthodontic yooth movement; Remeshing