Periodontal ligament areas and occlusal forces in dentitions restored with cross-arch bilateral end abutment bridges.

The aim of the present investigation was to find out to what extent the magnitudes of chewing and biting forces in dentitions restored with cross-arch bilateral end abutment bridges are correlated to the areas of the periodontal ligament supporting the abutment teeth. 12 subjects whose dentitions had been periodontally treated and prosthetically restored participated in the study. The chewing and biting forces were measured in various parts of as well as over the entire dentition simultaneously using 4 strain gauge transducers bilaterally placed in pontics of the posterior (first molar/second premolar) and anterior regions. Based on calculations of the periodontal ligament areas, a new periodontal support index, PSIL, is introduced. This index expresses the relation between the total remaining periodontal ligament area supporting the bridge abutments and total maximal periodontal ligament area if all teeth were preserved as abutments. It is compared with the index of Ante, PSIA, which expresses the relation between the total remaining periodontal ligament area of all abutments and the total maximal periodontal ligament area of all replaced teeth. Within the present group of subjects, PSIL varied from 10 to 44% and PSIA from 17 to 118%. Based on the results of the correlation analyses, it is suggested that in dentitions restored with cross-arch bilateral end abutment bridges, the magnitude of the chewing forces is positively correlated to the areas of the periodontal ligament supporting the bridge abutments, whereas the periodontal ligament areas have no influence on the comparatively larger biting forces. The relevance of the 2 periodontal support indices and the clinical implications of the results of the study are discussed.