12.

BIOMECHANICS IN ORTHODONTICS

and the tooth which has to be uprighted. The level of L = length of wire
force exerted by the open coil spring is in the range In addition, Y is modulus of elasticity of the material
of 90-100 grams. This coil spring will push the titled used for fabricating the spring.
tooth to more distal position and will upright it also. So, when length of a spring is doubled, the force ex
So, at the end of treatment the tooth will get upright erted by the spring will reduce/decrease by a factor of
and move to a more distal position, thus creating the 8.
space for further orthodontic correction.
23. When a simple tipping force is applied to the crown of
an incisor, the center of rotation is usually located
a) At the apex
b) At the incisor edge
c) 2/3rd the root length from the apex
d) 1/3rd the root length from the apex

Ans d (Ref: Biomechanics in clinical orthodontics-Nanda.

1st edi/p 6-7)

Orthodontic force is required for tooth movement. The

type of tooth movement by a tooth to a greater ex
tent depends on the point of force application and its
relationship with the center of resistance of the tooth.
When a force is applied at the crown level, it will cre
ate a moment arm which is equal to the magnitude
of the force and the perpendicular distance form the
point of force to the center of resistance. The mo
ment which is created will try to rotate and tip the
crown of the tooth with center of resistance located at
Fig 12.6 Open coil spring the l/3rd of the root length from the apex. This is
some sort of uncontrolled tippinq of the tooth, in which
21. The resiliency of the orthodontic wire as regards to root apex will move in one direction and crown of the
its cross section will tooth will move in the opposite direction. This type of
a) Increase with increase in the cross section area tooth movement is usually not needed during orth
b) Decrease with increase in the cross section area odontic treatment except in Class II div 2 malocclu
c) Remains same sion with retroclined upper anteriors, which requires
d) Independent of the cross sectional area root movement of the retroclined upper anteriors in
the palatal direction and crown to move in labial di
Ans b (Ref: Philip's science of dental material rection.
Anusavice.11th edi/p 84, 622-623)
24. A material when subjected to enough force eventu
Resilience is defined as "the amount of energy ab ally fractures or ruptures. This point is
sorbed within a unit of a structure when it is stressed a) Deformation point b) Fracture point
to its proportional limit". Resiliency is also known as c) Ultimate strength d) Yield strength
springiness of the material.
Resilience of two or more materials can be com Ans c (Ref: Q no. 26 for explanation)
pared by plotting and observing the area under the
elastic region of the stress-strain curve. The material 25. During correction of malocclusion various types of
with larger elastic area has the higher resilience. orthodontic tooth movements are performed. Which
Resilience of an orthodontic wire is inversely pro of the following orthodontic tooth movements re
portional to the diameter/cross-sectional area of the quires very careful planning and execution?
wire. So, as the cross-sectional area of the orthodon a) Intrusion b) Translation
tic wire increases, the diameter of the wire will also c) Tipping d) Rotation
increase, which will decrease the resiliency of the wire,
thus makeing it more rigid. Ans a (Ref: Bioengineering analysis in orthodontic
mechanics.Nikoli.1st edi/p 163-169)
22. When length of a spring is doubled, the force ex
erted by the spring Translation is one of the most difficult types of move
a) Decreases by 8 times ments to achieve in orthodontics. This is caused by
b) Increases by 8 times the anatomic characteristics that surround the teeth
c) Decreases by 16 times that make the application of a force through the C
d) Increases by 18 times res very difficult, so pure translation is hard to obtain.
Orthodontic intrusion is a type of body movement in
Ans a (Ref: Textbook of orthodontics-Gown Shankar.1st the vertical dimension. During intrusion tooth is forced
edi/p 347) to move in more apical direction thus causing com
pression of the periodontal ligament fibers and the
Spring formula for a given material is: peri-apical tissues. If during intrusion, forces are not
F a. (D)4/L3 controlled in the proper way might lead to resorption
F = Y X (D)4/L3 of root and loss of vitality of the tooth structure. There
Here, fore, precise control of force (magnitude and direc
F= force exerted by the spring tion) is very important during intrusive movement of
D = diameter of the wire the tooth.