Buccal and Lingual Bone Properties in Human Mandibles

Objectives: Alveolar bone (AB) properties surrounding teeth are important in designing treatment plans for periodontal disease and implantation. It has been observed that buccal and lingual quantity (thickness) of the human AB is different but their quality has not been fully investigated. Thus, the objective of this study was to characterize the quality of AB by measuring elastic, plastic, and viscoelastic properties of buccal and lingual AB tissues.
Methods: Three human cadaveric mandibles (93±1.4 yrs) were obtained. The premolar AB was longitudinally dissected in the bucco-lingual direction through the tooth. The surface of AB-tooth construct was polished and placed for nanoindentation in hydration. A total of 779 indentations were successfully performed at buccal (n=373) and lingual regions (n=406). Elastic modulus (E), plastic hardness (H), brittleness (E/H), viscosity (η), viscoelastic normalized creep (Creep/f), and energy dissipation (tan d) were obtained using a nanoindentation loading cycle of loading, 30-second holding, and unloading processes at the same site of specimen. Multivariate analysis of variance was performed to compare the nanoindentation parameters between the region groups (significant, p<0.05).
Results: Buccal AB had significantly greater values of E, H, and η (p<0.027) but significantly lower value of tan d than lingual AB (p=0.001). The measures of Creep/f and E/H were not significantly different between the two regions (p>0.258).
Conclusions: The current results indicate, when compared to lingual AB, buccal AB tissue exhibit a higher elastic, plastic, and viscoelastic resistance but lower energy dissipation to disperse static and dynamic masticatory loading while the fracture risk measured by E/H was not different. Understanding these regional differences of AB quality can help in obtaining better future treatment plans for oral bone complications.