title: Measuring 3D-orthodontic actions to guide clinical treatments involving coil springs and miniscrews.
abstract: The understanding of the phenomena at the base of tooth movement, due to orthodontic therapy, is an ambitious topic especially with regard to the "optimal forces" able to move teeth without causing irreversible tissue damages. To this aim, a measuring platform for detecting 3D orthodontic actions has been developed. It consists of customized load cells and dedicated acquisition electronics. The force sensors are able to detect, simultaneously and independently of each other, the six orthodontic components which a tooth is affected by. They have been calibrated and then applied on a clinical case that required NiTi closed coil springs and miniscrews for the treatment of upper post-extraction spaces closure. The tests have been conducted on teeth stumps belonging to a plaster cast of the patient's mouth. The load cells characteristics (sensor linearity and repeatability) have been analyzed (0.97 < R2< 1; 6.3*10-6% < STD < 8.8 %) and, on the basis of calibration data, the actions exerted on teeth have been determined. The biomechanical behavior of the frontal group and clinical interpretation of the results are discussed.
authors.affiliation: The Biorobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pontedera, Pisa, Italy. m.mencattelli@sssup.it.
authors.forename: Margherita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mencattelli
authors.affiliation: The Biorobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pontedera, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Donati
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate School of Orthodontics, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Pasqua
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Spinelli
authors.affiliation: Studio Dentistico Cultrone, Pontedera, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cultrone
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate School of Orthodontics, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Cesare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Luzi
authors.affiliation: Centro Odontoiatrico Cantarella, Nervesa, Treviso, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cantarella
authors.affiliation: The Biorobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pontedera, Pisa, Italy.|Department of Biomedical Engineering, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
authors.forename: Cesare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stefanini
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D014087:Tooth Movement Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*
keywords: Biomechanics; Customized load cells; Force-moment measurements; Orthodontics; Superelastic coils