Modelling of the tooth contact through one-layered mouthguard

The work deals with the modelling of the contact of the teeth with and without taking into account a single-layer mouthguard made of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA). The problem is considered in an axisymmetric formulation with the contact interaction including a friction along the conjugate surfaces. An optimal finite element mesh with a gradient dense element distribution near to the contact areas was used. A series of numerical experiments for various values of indentation force (ranging from 50 to 500 N) was carried out, a significant drop in the intensity of stress in hard tissues of the teeth was established by more than 60% when using a mouthguard. In this case, the zone of maximum stress concentration is not of a local nature, as in contact without taking into account the mouthguard. The dependences of the maximum level of stress intensity for two variants of design schemes and the intensity of plastic deformations on the strength of indentation are obtained. The distributions of contact pressure and tangential stress are obtained, it is found that the maximum contact pressure for the model taking into account the mouthguard is 3 times less than in the model without taking into account the prototype structure.