Finite Element Analysis of Stress in Bone Adjacent to Dental Implants

Abstract

Understanding how clinical variables affect stress distribution facilitates optimal prosthesis design and fabrication and may lead to a decrease in mechanical failures as well as improve implant longevity. In this study, the many clinical variations present in an implant-supported prosthesis were analyzed by a 3-dimensional finite-element method. The anterior segment of a human mandible treated with 5 implants supporting a curved beam was created to perform the tests. The variables introduced in the computer model were cantilever length, elastic modulus of cancellous bone, abutment length, implant length, and framework alloy (AgPd or CoCr). The computer was programmed with physical properties of the materials as derived from the literature, and a 100-N vertical load was used to simulate the occlusal force. Images with fringes of stress were obtained, and the maximum stress at each site was plotted in graphs for comparison. Stresses tended to be concentrated at the cortical bone around the neck of the implant closest to the load, whereas stresses in cancellous bone were considered low. In general, the stress distribution was better with stiffer cancellous bone, longer abutments and implants, and shorter cantilevers. The use of a CoCr alloy framework appears to contribute to a better stress distribution.

Effect of cantilever length and framework alloy on the stress distribution of mandibular‐cantilevered implant‐supported prostheses

“…Thus, the testing machine was set to compression at the crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min until it reached 100 N (Van Zyl et al 1995;Rubo & Souza 2008;Suedam et al 2009) and then stopped. This procedure was carried on to avoid that deformation caused by abutment screw and prosthetic screw tightening had any interference on the readings of load application on the cantilever arm.…”

Comparison of Stresses Around Dental Implants Placed in Normal and Fibula Reconstructed Mandibular Models using Finite Element Analysis

“…According to several studies [15][16][17][18][19], the maximum stresses in the bone were always located around the neck of the implant due to the thickness of cortical bone which has highest modulus of elasticity when compared to the cancellous bone.…”

Effect of the number of abutments on biomechanics of Branemark prosthesis with straight and tilted distal implants

“…However, this study has some limitations because the experiment simulated a specific design of a fixed implant-supported prosthesis for the edentulous mandible. Previous studies 10,16,22 have highlighted that the load transference from implants to bone depends on the type and place of loading, boneimplant interface, implant geometry and surface, framework alloy, density of cancellous bone, and abutment length. The literature also reports variation of deformation, forces and/or bending moments in abutments and implants due to implant brand 9 , framework alloy 22 , cantilever extension 17 , and occlusal contacts 14 .…”