Mechanical Strength and Viscoelastic Response of the Periodontal Ligament in Relation to Structure

The mechanical strength of the periodontal ligament (PDL) was first measured as force required to extract a tooth from its socket using human specimens. Thereafter, tooth-PDL-bone preparations have extensively been used for measurement of the mechanical response of the PDL. In vitro treatments of such specimens with specific enzymes allowed one to investigate into the roles of the structural components in the mechanical support of the PDL. The viscoelastic responses of the PDL may be examined by analysis of the stress-relaxation. Video polarised microscopy suggested that the collagen molecules and fibrils in the stretched fibre bundles progressively align along the deformation direction during the relaxation. The stress-relaxation process of the PDL can be well expressed by a function with three exponential decay terms. Analysis after in vitro digestion of the collagen fibres by collagenase revealed that the collagen fibre components may play an important role in the long-term relaxation component of the stress-relaxation process of the PDL. The dynamic measurements of the viscoelastic properties of the PDL have recently suggested that the PDL can absorb more energy in compression than in shear and tension. These viscoelastic mechanisms of the PDL tissue could reduce the risk of injury to the PDL.