Simulation of tooth movement in orthodontic treatment

Abstract

We developed a new simulation method for predicting patients' post treatment cephalometric data from their pre-treatment cephalometric measurements. We measured the cephalograms before and after treatment of ten female orthodontic patients between 18 and 24 years of age. We calculated the simulated post treatment cephalometric measurements with the newly developed method and compared the simulated data with the actual post treatment measurements. We constructed the bit map model of the teeth and alveolar bone from the patient's cephalograms and calculated the amount of bone reconstruction on the bit map model using a personal computer. Tooth movement was simulated based on the least bone reconstruction. There were significant differences at the 5% level in the inclination of the maxillary and mandibular canines. There was no significant difference in any other index. We concluded that the new method is useful for accurately estimating tooth movement after treatment.