Effect of Low Magnitude and High Frequency Mechanical Stimuli on Defects Healing in Cranial Bones

Omar, Haitham; Shen, Gang; Jones, Allan S.; Zoellner, Hans; Petocz, Peter; Darendeliler, M. Ali

doi:10.1016/j.joms.2008.01.048

« Previous Next »Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Volume 66, Issue 6 , Pages 1104-1111, June 2008

Effect of Low Magnitude and High Frequency Mechanical Stimuli on Defects Healing in Cranial Bones

Haitham Omar, BDS, FRACDS
- Postgraduate Student, Discipline of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Sydney Dental Hospital, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Gang Shen, BDS, MDSc, PhD
- Associate Professor, Discipline of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Sydney Dental Hospital, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Allan S. Jones, PhD
- Senior lecturer, Electron Microscope Unit, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Hans Zoellner, BDS, PhD
- Associate Professor, Department of Oral Pathology and Oral Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Peter Petocz, PhD
- Associate Professor, Department of Statistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
M. Ali Darendeliler, BDS, PhD, DipOrth, CertifOrtho, PrivDoc
- Professor and Chair, Discipline of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Sydney Dental Hospital, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
- Address correspondence and reprint requests to Prof Darendeliler: Discipline of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Sydney Dental Hospital, The University of Sydney, Level 2, 2 Chalmers Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 Australia

Purpose

The aim of this investigation was to assess the effect of low magnitude high frequency (LMHF) mechanical vibrated stimulation on healing the defects surgically imposed on craniofacial bones.

Materials and Methods

Forty 12-week-old C3H strain mice were separated into surgical and non-surgical groups. The surgical groups had a reproducible surgical bony lesion prepared in their right parietal bone. Both groups were further subdivided into vibration (experimental) and non-vibration (control) groups at 3 time points (zero hours, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks). The vibration groups were subjected to LMHF mechanical stimuli (30 Hz with peak strain 5μϵ) via a vibration machine for 20 minutes a day for 5 days a week for a total of 28 days. The specimens were analyzed using micro-computer tomography (micro-CT).

Results

Micro-CT volumetric measurement showed that in the surgical defects groups there was a significant decrease in the volume of the healing lesion with time (P < .001) and the linear decrease was significantly more pronounced in the vibration-treated group than the nontreated group (P < .001). Micro-CT histomorphometric measurement showed that in the nonsurgical groups there was no significant difference in microstructures of bony trabeculae between vibration-treated and nontreated groups.

Conclusion

It is suggested that the introduction of LMHF mechanical stimuli in a healing bony lesion in the non-weight bearing bone significantly increases its healing capacity.