Our lab is working with Dr. Russell Reid in the Department of Surgery and with the Panagiotopoulou Lab at Monash University, and Drs. Felippe Prado, Ana Claudia Rossi and Alexandre Freire at UNICAMP in Brazil to improve treatment of disorders affecting human craniofacial skeletons. To improve treatment of mandible fractures, Panagiotopoulou is using validated finite element models to estimate the strain regimes in the fracture zone and around the implants to determine which fracture repair method–Champy or biplanar–is most effective. We are working with Drs. Prado, Rossi and Freire on FEM of distraction osteogenesis in infants with hypoplastic mandibles.  We have also shown how the concept of “facial pillars” in the human clinical literature is not supported by morphological evidence, but does describe skeletal function during chewing.

Related Publications

Biomechanical and morphological analysis of the Pierre Robin Sequence mandible: Finite element and morphometric study
Humphries, LS, Reid, RR, Ross, CF, Taylor, AB, Collins, JM, Freire, AR, Rossi, AC, Prado, FB. Anatomical Record. 2020: 1-14 (2020) [DOI]

Fracture fixation technique and chewing side impact jaw mechanics in mandible fracture repair
Mehari-Abraha, H, Iriarte-Diaz, J, Reid, RR, Ross, CF, Panagiotopoulou, O. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. (2021) [DOI]

Macaca mulatta is a good model for human mandibular fixation research
Pranav Haravu, Hyab Mehari Abraha, Michelle Shang, Jose Iriarte-Diaz, Andrea Taylor, Russell Reid, Callum Ross, Olga Pangiotopoulou. Royal Society Open Science. 9: 220438 (2022) [DOI]

Review of in vivo bone strain studies and finite element models of the zygomatic complex in humans and non-human primates: Implications for clinical research and practice
Prado, FB, Freire, AR, Rossi, AC, Ledogar, JA, Smith, AL, Dechow, PC, Strait, DS, Voigt, T, Ross, CF. Anatomical Record. 299: 1753-1778 (2016) [DOI]