Objectives: Location of fracture or crack in the tooth and its supporting structure has large influence on the selection of treatment options. Fractures or cracks caused by the traumatic force are varied among clinical situation due to different type of traumatic forces in terms of velocity, direction and duration.

The main objective of our current project was to examine factors influencing fracture and/or crack propagation in tooth and its supporting structure during traumatic events. In this study, tooth deflection under loads with different velocity was measured in 5 adult volunteers with informed consent.

Methods: A miniature strain gauge was attached on the cervical area of labial surface of maxillary right central incisor and forces were applied horizontally at the center of the labial surface of the clinical crown. Up to 7N of incremental force was applied by a tension meter with different speed. Obtained strain data was converted into deflection value through the calibration and the curve fitting method was applied on the time dependent deflection value.

Results: Results indicated that the tooth deflected as a rigid or elastic structure under the high-speed load in all subjects, though the slope value of the curve was varied among subjects. On the other hand, the tooth deflected as a visco-elastic material under the low speed load.

Conclusions: Our current results suggest that velocity of the traumatic force is the one of major factors to determine the fracture or crack location in tooth or supporting bone.

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