Abutment	That part of a subperiosteal, intraperiosteal, or intraosseous implant that protrudes into the oral cavity for retaining and stabilizing a denture or other prosthetic components
Acceleration	The rate of change of velocity with respect to time
Adaptive elasticity	A constitutive formulation that adopted in order to describe the structural re-arrangement of a biological tissue over time as a consequence of different stimuli (e.g. mechanical)
Aging	The organic process of growing older and showing the effects of increasing age
Alveolar bone	The specialized bony structure which supports the teeth; it consists of the cortical bone that comprises the tooth socket into which the roots of the tooth fit, and is supported by the trabecular bone .
Anisotropy	The property of being anisotropic; having a different value when measured in different directions
Balance laws	Differential equations that are mathematical expression of the equilibrium of a body subjected to different forces in static or dynamic conditions
Bar	Metallic (e.g. Titanium or Gold made) framework connecting different implants in multi-implant prosthetic configurations
Biomaterial	Material used for or suitable for use in prostheses that come in direct contact with living tissues; it can safely be implanted into the human body and left there without causing an adverse reaction
Bone properties	Physical, chemical or mechanical properties of the bone tissue as a material
Bone-implant interaction	Mechanical phenomena that occur at the level of bone-implant interface as consequence of the mechanical contact between them
Bone remodeling	The continuous turnover of bone tissue that involves first, an increase in resorption (osteoclastic activity) and later, reactive bone formation (osteoblastic activity). The process ensures the mechanical integrity of the skeleton
Boundary conditions	Specific imposed loading or displacement on the boundary of a body
Casting	Industrial process that is frequently adopted for the creation of dental devices, such as titanium bars
Center of rotation	A point around which all other points in a body move
Centrifugal force	The apparent force, equal and opposite to the centripetal force, drawing a rotating body away from the center of rotation, caused by the inertia of the body
Compressive strenght	The strength of a material subjected to compressive force, measured as the maximum stress value as a function of strain
Computational methods	Numerical methods to study a phisical problem and involving computation or computers
Computer tomography	A method of examining body organs by scanning them with X rays and using a computer to construct a series of cross-sectional scans along a single axis
Constitutive model	Mathematical relationship that describe the mechanical response of a material, for example its elongation induced by an applied load
Corrosion	A state of deterioration in metals caused by oxidation or chemical action
Cortical bone	The compact bone of the shaft of a bone that surrounds the medullary cavity
Couple	A system of two equal forces that are parallel and in opposite directions
Creep	Increase of strain over time in a condition of constant applied force. It is induced by the structural re-arrangement because of the loading effect
Damage	Degradation of the elastic properties of a material due to the increase of defects in its microstructure. The macroscopic effect is a decrease of material stiffness and strength
Degree of freedom	The least number of mutually independent parameters (coordinates) required to uniquely define a material system's position in space, time, etc.
Deformation	Modification in the shape or dimensions of an object as a result of loading, thermal expansion, etc.
Dental implant	Endosseus structure, usually Titanium made, that is adopted to fix the prosthesis to the bone. It can be made of a fixture (with shape similar to a screw) that is inserted in the implant site and different other components that are used to connect the fixture to the prosthesis (e.g. abutment)
Dental materials	Materials used in the production of dental bases, restorations, impressions, prostheses, etc.
Elasticity	The tendency of a body to completely return to its original shape with the unloading phase after it has been stretched or compressed
Equilibrium	A stable situation of a system, for example the condition of a body subjected to forces with null resultant
Extracellular matrix	A complex mixture of polysaccharides (glycosaminoglycans or cellulose) and proteins (collagen) secreted by cells. The extracellular matrix serves as a structural element in tissues
Finite Element Analysis	Application of the Finite Element Method (FEM) to the analysis of static or dynamic physical systems. The systems are represented by a geometrically similar model consisting of multiple, linked, simplified representations of discrete regions. FEA is adopted to study mechanical or thermal phenomena of complex structures
Fixture	The part of the implant that is inserted in the bone. Usually it has the shape of a screw. It can be self-tapping or not
Force (loading)	Effect induced by interaction phenomena of a structure with the environment or other body that are in contact with the structure itself (e.g. forces induced on teeth by occlusal phenomena)
Full edentulism	The condition of a patient who losts all his natural teeth
Hardness	The property of being rigid and resistant to forces applied on its surface, not easily scratched. It can be measured on several scales
Hooke's law	For a material is the linear relationship between stress applied and strain induced
Isotropy	The property of a material that shows invariant properties (e.g. mechanical) when m easured in different directions
Loading (force)	Effect induced by interaction phenomena of a structure with the environment or other body that are in contact with the structure itself (e.g. forces induced on teeth by occlusal phenomena)
Multiple implants	More endosseus implants that are inserted of the replacement of two ore more teeth with a fixed prosthesis
Numerical methods	Mathematical procedures that are implemented with the use of computers and that are adopted to study the physical behaviour of complex structures. A typical numerical method is the Finite Element Method
Occlusal loads	The loads induced by the contact of surfaces that belong to opposing occlusal units (teeth or occlusion rims) or the masticating surfaces of the posterior teeth
Partial edentulism	The condition of a patient who losts some of his natural teeth
Peri-implant bone	The bone region that surrounds the implant and that is subject to the most relevant re-arrangement both during the surgical procedure and the healing process that follows that implant insertion
Poisson's ratio	the ratio of the transverse contracting strain to the longitudinal elongational strain when a tensile stress is applied to a material
Porosity	fine holes, voids, interstitials, or open spaces between grains or trapped in grains of a material's microstructure
Reaction force	The force applied by restraints acting on a body
Reverse engineering	The process of analysing an existing system to identify its components and their interrelationships and create representations of the system in another form or at a higher level of abstraction. Reverse engineering is usually undertaken in order to redesign the system for better maintainability or to produce a copy of a system without access to the design from which it was originally produced
Rigid body rotation	The motion of a body that does not induce a change of the shape but only a pure translation and/or a pure rotation of the body
Shear	A condition or force causing two contacting parts of a material to slide past each other in opposite directions parallel to their plane of contact
Solidification	The process of becoming hard or solid by cooling or drying or crystallization
Strain	Deformation with change o shape of a physical body under the action of applied forces or other external or internal actions (change of temperature, etc.)
Stress	The force for unit of surface that is transmitted between every two adjacent infinitesimal regions of a body
Tensile strenght	The strength of a material subjected to tensile force, measured as the maximum stress value as a function of strain
Torque	Loading system that causes rotation, twisting or turning
Trabecular bone	Adult bone consisting of mineralised regularly ordered parallel collagen fibres more loosely organised than the lamellar bone of the shaft of adult long bones
Yield point	The point at which a material ceases to deform elastically and undergoes plastic strains
Young's modulus	The ratio of longitudinal stress to longitudinal strain and is symbolized by E
Velocity	The rate of change of displacement with respect to time