FEM is a powerful contemporary research tool that has been used to study the stress distribution of non living as well as natural and restored craniofacial structures affected by three dimensional stress fields, which are difficult to assess otherwise. The three dimensional FEM used in the present study provides the freedom to simulate orthodontic force systems applied clinically and allows analysis of the response of the craniofacial skeleton to the orthodontic loads in three dimensional space. The FE analysis has the following advantages: it is a non invasive technique; the actual amount of...