Three dimensional finite element analysis of a novel osteointegrated dental implant designed to reduce stress peak of cortical bone.

A new type of dental implant was designed as multi-component mainly including inset and abutment between which a gap was introduced to guide the force to transmit from the cancellous bone to cortical bone, with the intention to lower the stress peak at cortical bone. By way of finite element analysis (FEA) associated with advanced computer tomography (CT) and 3D model reconstruction technology to construct precise mandible model, biomechanical aspects of implant were investigated. Compared with traditional implant that created stress dominantly at cortical bone, stress peak at the implant/bone interface in the cervical cortex decreased sharply (about 51%) for the new type of implant. Furthermore, applying varying implant shape and gap dimensions helped to optimize the design of this new implant. Optimization results revealed that: (1) screwed cylindrical implant is superior to tapered, stepped and smooth cylindrical implant in effectively decreasing the stress peak of bone; (2) deepening and widening gap would contribute to the decline of stress peak, but at the cost of break and destruction of the inset; (3) suitable gap size with the depth of 7 mm and width of 0.3 mm would be applicable. This work may provide reference for clinical application of dental implant.