A physicomathematical approach to the structure of the mandible.

Classical methods of anatomical study and experimentation have reached an endpoint with respect to the advancement of our knowledge of certain aspects of bone, i.e. its mechanical properties, investigation of the constraints acting on bone and the organization of bone allowing resistance to such mechanical stress. Indeed, current knowledge is rather limited regarding bone as a material. Furthermore, bone from the cadaver cannot be considered a reliable source of study material since its physicochemical composition and mechanical properties are highly different from those of living bone. The types of experimentation used to date, although allowing to study the phenomena occurring on the surface of the bone, do not allow to evaluate those that occur within the bone without modification of its mechanical features. Finally, the number and complexity of the parameters to be taken into account in this respect largely supersede the possibilities of classical study techniques. Accordingly, new types of methodology are required to evaluate the many parameters involved, to perform the corresponding computations and resolve the great number of unknown variables. Such methodology must allow experimentation to be performed without modifying the object of study and to determine the phenomena occurring within the bone itself, i.e. the mandible. A method of computer assisted simulation of a physicomathematical model was used to analyse the structural properties of the mandible.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)