Abstract

Finite element analysis (FEA) presents a wide range of application in dentistry. FEA models can precisely calculate the material stress in conditions of geometry and boundaries that can properly represent the clinical reality. However, like any research model, the FEA requires some simplifications to be feasible. The researcher’s challenge is to distinguish between the necessary simplifications and the misrepresentative ones. This chapter presents some information to help FEA users to improve their FEA result interpretation. In addition, it will help readers who are not familiar with this technique to understand the power of this tool and enable them to critically analyze the published FEA studies.