Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Maxillary expansion is one of the most commonly advocated treatment approaches for the management of the maxillary deficiency in the transverse plane and is possible because of the presence of mid-palatal suture. This finite element method (FEM) study was taken to evaluate the stress pattern and displacement in the screw and its adjacent structures used in three different treatment modalities, such as rapid maxillary expansion (RME), mini-implant-assisted rapid palatal expansion (MARPE), and MARPE in conjunction with micro-osteoperforations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An adult human dried skull, cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) of the skull, and FEM and associated software (GEOMAGIC) were included. The displacements with different activation modules were studied using FEM simulation. RESULTS: In the RME group with 0.5 mm, 1 mm, and 1.5 mm of simulation, 0.55 mm, 1.10 mm, and 1.65 mm of displacement were seen, respectively. In the MARPE group with 0.5 mm, 1 mm, and 1.5 mm of simulation, 0.68 mm, 1.26 mm, and 1.89 mm of displacement were seen, respectively. In MARPE with the micro-osteoperforation group with 0.5 mm, 1 mm, and 1.5 mm of simulation, 0.77 mm, 1.5 mm, and 2.33 mm of displacement were seen, respectively. CONCLUSION: The order of maximum displacement achieved was MARPE+ micro-osteoperforations (model 3) being the highest followed by MARPE (model 2) and RME (model 1).