Endodontic or root canal treatment is one of the most important dental procedures employed in modern dentistry. Although there have been many results in surgical simulation in the past two decades, little work has been done on endodontics. The objective of this thesis is to explore critical issues for simulating root canal procedures effectively and efficiently, and to develop an interactive virtual environment featured with both visual and haptic feedback to facilitate endodontic training, which opens new roads to the research of root canal simulation and endodontic training. Beyond endodontics, the results of this work can be extended and applied to other kinds of medical simulation and biomechanical modeling, especially the simulations featured with interactions between soft tissue and solid tool objects. / This work covers both theories and methodologies related to the interactive endodontic simulation and validation, including dynamic modeling, visual and haptic display, model validation and statistical learning. We focus on the simulation of the most critical step in the entire endodontic procedure---shaping root canal with endodontic files. There are four major contributions of this thesis. First, we propose a dynamic model to simulate endodontic shaping operations, which is a smoothed particle based dynamic model derived for the pulpal tissue coupled with a finite element model for the endodontic files. This approach effectively characterizes the special properties and constraints associated with both the pulpal tissue and the endodontic files. Second, we implement the derived dynamic model and build up the virtual environment for endodontic simulation with both graphic and haptic interfaces. Third, we design a novel Robotic Endodontic Measurement System to acquire real haptic data of interactions between root canal and endodontic files during endodontic shaping, and propose an experimental validation method to evaluate the performance of derived dynamic model. Finally, we propose a support vector regression model to accurately characterize the input-output haptic mapping for endodontic shaping operation. The optimized parameters of this model can be learned from robotic endodontic measurements with RBF kernel. / Li Min. / "December 2005." / Adviser: Yun-Hui Liu. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: B, page: 6554. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-116). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / EFFECTS OF DYNAMATRIX® ON ANGIOGENIC CYTOKINE EXPRESSION FROM HUMAN DENTAL PULP FIBROBLASTS: AN IN VITRO STUDY by Joseph Benjamin Adams Indiana University School of Dentistry Indianapolis, IN Introduction: An exogenous scaffold may lead to more predictable pulp tissue regeneration and continued root formation in a regenerative endodontic procedure. DynaMatrix® is a natural membrane scaffold made of porcine small intestine, currently used in periodontal regenerative surgeries. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate if human dental pulp fibroblasts (HDPFs) seeded on DynaMatrix® membrane would result in an increase in the expression of angiogenic cytokines. Materials and Methods: HDPFs (75,000 per well) were seeded in 6-well plates. Three groups were tested: Group 1 (C): HDPFs in 70 media only; Group 2 (M): DynaMatrix® (Cook Biotech, Indianapolis, IN) alone in media; and Group 3 (C+M): HDPFs seeded on DynaMatrix® membranes. After 72 hours of incubation in serum positive, the conditioned media were collected and analyzed for the expression of 20 angiogenic cytokines utilizing RayBiotech Inc., arrays per the manufacturer’s instruction. The data were analyzed by ANOVA. Results: Group M was significantly higher than C for bFGF (p = 0.0023). C+M was significantly higher than M for ANG (p = 0.0104); GRO (p = 0.0003); IFN-γ (p = 0.0023); IL-6 (p = 0.0003); IL-8 (p = 0.0003); Leptin (p = 0.0003); MCP-1 (p = 0.0104); TIMP-1 (p = 0.0190); TIMP-2 (0.0123). C was significantly higher than C+M for ANG (p = 0.0104); MCP-1 (p = 0.0104); and THPO (p = 0.0308). Cytokines such as b-FGF, ANG, and leptin promote angiogenesis, and stimulate migration and proliferation of cells. Conclusion: The cytokine expression profile from the cells seeded on DynaMatrix® suggests that it might be a suitable scaffold for regenerative endodontic procedures. It could improve vascularization by increasing angiogenic cytokines in the microenvironment of the treated root canal and supporting tissue regeneration.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Endodontic regeneration treatment of necrotic immature teeth has gained popularity in recent years. The approach suggests a biological alternative to induce a continuous root development. In this project, three in vitro experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of three medicaments used in endodontic regeneration on mechanical properties and chemical structure of radicular dentin. In the first experiment, we investigated longitudinally the effect of medicaments on the indentation properties of the root canal surface of immature teeth using a novel BioDent reference point indenter. A significant difference in the majority of indentation parameters between all groups was found after one-week and one-month application of medicaments (p<0.0001): triple antibiotic paste (TAP) > double antibiotic paste (DAP) > control > calcium hydroxide [Ca(OH)2]. The four-week exposure of dentin to TAP and DAP caused 43% and 31% increase in total indentation distance outcome, respectively. In the second experiment, we investigated longitudinally the effect of medicaments on the chemical structure of immature radicular dentin by measuring the phosphate/amide I ratios of dentin using Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Phosphate/amide I ratios were significantly different between the four groups after one week, two weeks and four week application of medicaments (p<0.0001): Ca(OH)2-treated dentin > untreated dentin > DAP-treated dentin > TAP-treated dentin. In the third experiment, we investigated longitudinally the effect of medicaments on root fracture resistance and microhardness of radicular dentin. For the microhardness, the two-way interaction between group and time was significant (p<0.001). TAP and DAP caused a significant and continuous decrease in dentin microhardness after one and three month application, respectively. The three-month intracanal application of Ca(OH)2 significantly increased the microhardness of root dentin. The time factor had a significant effect on fracture resistance (p<0.001). All medicaments caused significant decrease in fracture resistance ranging between 19%-30% after three month application compared to one week application. The three medicaments used in endodontic regeneration caused significant change in the chemical integrity of the superficial radicular dentin and significantly affected the indentation properties of the root canal surface. Furthermore, the three month intracanal application of medicaments significantly reduced the fracture resistance of roots.