In order to maintain alignment between the mandible and maxilla, the vertical mandibulomaxillary (VMM) plates must be able to resist significant bending due to mastication muscle force
Bending of the VMM plates directly results in movement of the mandible since the mandible and plates are directly attached to each other
The VMM plates are modeled as cantilever beams
The maxilla is fixed in place and will not move
Mandible is treated as the unsupported end
Point load of 680 N is applied to mandible which was determined through muscle force calculations
Higher moment of inertia results in lower deflection
The design of the VMM plates will incorporate beams with the highest moment of inertia
