Biomechanical Modeling Of The Temporomandibular Joint And Researches On Sagittal Split Ramus Osteotomy

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is between the condyle of the mandible and the mandibular fossa and articular eminence of the temporal bone. The TMJs are the only bilateral linked joints in human body. The bilateral TMJs can do many actions together, such as chew, swallow, speech, expression. The TMJ loads produced by mandibular movement play an important part in the normal configuration and function of the parts in the TMJ, and have relations to the cause and cure of some TMJ diseases. It is obvious that biomechanical researches need to be done on TMJ. So far, simulating the interaction of the parts in the TMJ is still difficult in oral biomechanics. The TMJs were not established or were treated with inactive joints in many mandibular finite element models. In the past 15 years, some researchers established mandibular finite element models, in which the interaction of the parts in the TMJs was simulated using gap elements or contact elements. Nevertheless, there is no comparison among these simulations on the TMJs. Besides, some biomechanical researches on anterior disk displacement were done. Other TMJ diseases, such as disk displacements in other directions, disk perforation and ankylosis of TMJ, also have relations to the stress distributions in TMJs, but few biomechanical researches have been done on them.Sagittal split ramus osteotomy (SSRO) is the first intraoral orthognathic surgery, which is used to treat various mandibular malformations, such as mandibular prognathism, retrognathia and micrognathia. Many clinical observations and...