Modeling tooth enamel in FEA comparisons of skulls: Comparing common simplifications with biologically realistic models

Eva C Herbst; Stephan Lautenschlager; Dylan Bastiaans; Feiko Miedema; Torsten M Scheyer

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.103182

Modeling tooth enamel in FEA comparisons of skulls: Comparing common simplifications with biologically realistic models

iScience. 2021 Sep 28;24(11):103182. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103182. eCollection 2021 Nov 19.

Authors

Eva C Herbst¹, Stephan Lautenschlager², Dylan Bastiaans¹, Feiko Miedema³, Torsten M Scheyer¹

Affiliations

¹ Palaeontological Institute and Museum, University of Zurich, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland.
² School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT Birmingham, UK.
³ Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, 70191 Stuttgart, Germany.

Abstract

Palaeontologists often use finite element analyses, in which forces propagate through objects with specific material properties, to investigate feeding biomechanics. Teeth are usually modeled with uniform properties (all bone or all enamel). In reality, most teeth are composed of pulp, dentine, and enamel. We tested how simplified teeth compare to more realistic models using mandible models of three reptiles. For each, we created models representing enamel thicknesses found in extant taxa, as well as simplified models (bone, dentine or enamel). Our results suggest that general comparisons of stress distribution among distantly related taxa do not require representation of dental tissues, as there was no noticeable effect on heatmap representations of stress. However, we find that representation of dental tissues impacts bite force estimates, although magnitude of these effects may differ depending on constraints. Thus, as others have shown, the detail necessary in a biomechanical model relates to the questions being examined.

Keywords: biomaterials; biomechanics; biophysics; paleontology.