A micromechanical elastic property study of trabecular bone in the human mandible.

Micromechanical properties of human mandibular trabecular bone, with particular interest to any site differences were investigated. A mandible was harvested from a 66 year-old female cadaver free from bone disease. It was embedded in PMMA, cut into 2mm sections and polished. Micromechanical property measurements were obtained using the UH3 Scanning Acoustic Microscope (SAM) (Olympus Co., Tokyo, Japan) at 400MHz in the burst mode. 6 vertical slices from the right and 6 horizontal slices from the left were chosen. In each of the 12 samples, 3 points were measured; first in the center, the other 2 from the margins. Data were analyzed statistically by SPSS (SPSS, Inc.) using Student's t-test. The average value of reflection coefficient r is 0.58+/-0.079 with the range from 0.46 to 0.64; E=25.0+/-5.64 GPa. There is no significant difference in properties in the osteonal direction of related cortical bone and those found between the marginal area and center areas. The average value of r from the right side, 0.60+/-0.07, is statistically higher than the average value of from the left side, 0.56+/-0.07. Micromechanical properties of both mandibular trabecular and cortical bone have almost the same values.