Osteogenic Effect of High Frequency Forces on Alveolar Bone

It has been shown that whole body vibrations have an osteogenic potential on load bearing skeletal segments. High frequency forces of low magnitude have been demonstrated to increase trabecular bone volume in experimental animal studies. Objectives: The goal of this study is to investigate if the application of high frequency, low magnitude forces on teeth changes the quality and quantity of alveolar bone in the jaws. Methods: Forty-eight Spraque-Dawley rats were divided into sham and experimental groups. The experimental groups were subjected to daily localized vibration for 5 minutes (under inhalation anesthesia) on the occlusal surface of the maxillary and mandibular right first molar at a frequency of 10Hz, 60Hz,120Hz, or 200Hz, with a magnitude of 5 microstrain and acceleration of 0.3g. The experiments were conducted for 28 days, animals euthanized and jaws collected for different studies. The alveolar bone of upper and lower jaws was evaluated using microcomputed tomography (uCT), scanning electron microscopy, fluorescente microscopy and histomorphometry. Results: Our results demonstrate that the high frequency, low magnitude forces applied to the occlusal surface of molars have an osteogenic effect on the surrounding alveolar bone. This effect was highest at 120 Hz which caused a 16% and 12% increase in the bone volume fraction of maxilla and mandible, respectively. Histological analysis shows significant changes including an increase in trabecular thickness, and increased mineral deposition. Conclusion: These results indicate that application of localized mechanical stimuli of high frequency and low magnitude to teeth have an osteogenic effect on the surrounding alveolar bone and this effect is frequency dependent. This work was supported by the NYU College of Dentistry and NIDCR (5K08DE017426).