As a teacher of orthodontic biomechanics, my primary goal is to assist my students in understanding that using a rational biomechanical approach, principled on mathematics and physics, they will be able to predict the outcome of the application of the selected orthodontic appliance.
Whilst it may not be possible to predict with absolute certainty the dental movement we will obtain with the use of a specific orthodontic appliance, my clinical experience to date is that we can do so to a high degree of confidence on a routine basis. At times, we may encounter small errors which are not clinically significant. In the other instances, larger errors can be encountered when the center of resistance (CR) position has been incorrectly estimated, or the wrong force system has been applied. I teach my students to observe their results, compare them to what they had expected and understand the nature of their error. This is underpinned by rigorous grounding and education in biomechanics, including comprehension of the many concepts related to physics and biology and the application of them in various clinical scenarios.
I have dedicated the last 30 years of my life to the teaching of orthodontic biomechanics. During this time, one of the most frequent requests I receive from my students is to have more biomechanics exercises to test their understanding, and apply the knowledge they have acquired during our biomechanics lectures. Initially, I would develop exercises spontaneously, both simple and complex, for my students to solve in the midst of a lecture. The exercises that you will encounter in this book have been derived from these sessions with students. It is my hope that future editions of this books will include additional exercises, with greater contributions from my past students.
Of course, this little book does not have the aim of providing the prerequisite biomechanics knowledge for an orthodontist, so we have only added a few pages with essential reminders to formulas and procedures needed to solve the problems.
For a proper learning of orthodontic biomechanics, we redirect the reader to the many excellent textbooks that have been published including the online multimedia textbook, that I have published together with Prof. Birte Melsen “Biomechanics in Orthodontics”.
I would like to thank the coauthors, past students and Biomede members Dr. Wislei Oliveira, Dr. Paola Merlo and Dr. Siva Vasudavan. I need to than also to thank Dr. Andrea Boggio for his help to us in the creation of this exercise book.
Another thank should be directed to all the people who have been investing their time to teach something to me, I am doing my best to extend their legacy.
Giorgio Fiorelli
Arezzo, May 2019
INDEX
Brief Instructions to the Exercises
Exercises
Solution to the Exercises
Resources and Recommended
