Development of a Novel Micro-motion Dental Implant System

Abstract

Dental implantation has brought about not only the occlusive capability restoration for edentulous patients, but also provided a better choice for the tooth reconstruction. With the advancements of science and technology, a satisfactory success rate of the dental implantation was reported. However, the mechanical behavior of the dental implant is still not similar to a natural tooth with the periodontal ligament. The micro-motion mechanism is the main difference between the natural tooth and the dental implant. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a novel dental implant abutment with a micro-motion mechanism that imitates the biomechanical behavior of the periodontal ligament, with the goal of not only maintaining the primal success rate but also increasing the long-term survival rate of dental implants. Firstly, computer-aided design software was used to design a novel dental implant abutment with an internal resilient component with a micro-motion capability. The feasibility of the novel system was investigated via finite element analysis. Then, a prototype of the novel dental implant abutment was fabricated, and the mechanical behavior was evaluated. The compression test of the novel dental implant was performed to prove micro-motion function. Moreover, the fatigue test of the novel dental implant was executed on the basis of the ISO 14801 standard. The results of the finite element analysis and the compression test confirmed that the novel dental implant abutment possessed the anticipated micro-motion capability. The nonlinear force-displacement behavior apparent in this micro-motion mechanism imitated the movement of a human tooth. Furthermore, the novel dental implant accomplished the fatigue test successfully at 5,000,000 cycles with frequencies of 5 Hz. The maximum endured load of the fatigue resistance of the novel dental implant is 160 N according to the ISO 14801 standard.