Alveolar Boundary Conditions in Orthodontic Diagnosis and Treatment Planning

In orthodontics, alveolar boundary conditions are the depth, height, and morphology of alveolar bone relative to tooth root dimensions, angulation, and spatial position. This chapter reviews the small and sometimes conflicting literature on alveolar boundary conditions with the goal of providing information on its implications to orthodontic diagnosis, treatment planning, and treatment outcomes. More specifically, it delineates the use of cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) to classify patients by their alveolar boundary condition biotype and to identify patient- and treatment-specific risk factors that may compromise alveolar boundary conditions. The chapter also discusses the advances in the understanding of extreme variations in morphologic boundary conditions most commonly associated with developmental anomalies as revealed through CBCT imaging. Finally, it describes an approach to analyzing and biotyping alveolar boundary conditions using CBCT images.