[Effect of unilateral condylar fracture on stress distribution in the mandible].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of unilateral condylar fracture on stress distribution in the mandible in order to realize primarily the biomechanical mechanism of temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) resulted in by joint injury. METHODS: The stress distributions in the mandible of a normal human and a patient with TMD induced by right condylar fracture following malposition healing were analyzed and compared quantitatively during centric occlusion by three-dimensional finite element method. RESULTS: The patient contained the unbalanced stress distribution in the mandible, such as different nature and value of stress. The stress in the fractured side was higher than the non-fractured side, in which condyle is more evident. The maximum principal stress and minimum principal stress of each region in his mandible were much higher than that in a normal mandible. Its stress quality changes also. The stress in his mandible was distributed asymmetrically. CONCLUSION: Unilateral condylar fracture not only damaged its structure, but also induced the badness of its biomechanical environment, in which condyle was the most sensitive region during the stresses in the mandible were changed. It was preliminarily thought that unbalanced stress distribution, evidently increased stress and varied stress character were one of biomechanical mechanism of TMD.