Reduced fracture load of dental implants after implantoplasty with different instrumentation sequences. An in vitro study

Objectives To assess the mechanical stability of implants after implantoplasty and thermocyclic loading, the residual thickness of the instrumented areas and neighbouring tooth injury due to implantoplasty. Materials and Methods Using a phantom head simulator and maxillary model implants were subjected to an implantoplasty procedure. Thirty implants were randomly assigned to receive one of three instrumentation sequences. After instrumentation, injury on neighbouring teeth was assessed. Instrumented implants and non-instrumented controls were subjected to 1.2 million cycles of thermo-mechanical loading in a chewing machine. Afterwards, maximum fracture load for all implants and an additional five pristine control implants was tested. Results Generally, damage of neighbour teeth was a frequent finding (33 +/- 56% of all cases) with considerable inter-group differences. No considerable inter-group difference for the residual implant thickness was found for different areas assessed. No implant fractured during cyclic loading. Fracture load was reduced after cyclic loading of uninstrumented implants from 2,724 +/- 70 N to 2,299 +/- 127 N, and after implantoplasty to 1,737 +/- 165 N, while no effect by the instrumentation sequence could be observed. Conclusions Both implantoplasty and cyclic loading were shown to reduce the implants' maximum bending strength. Cyclic loading in a laboratory masticator, simulating a five-year equivalent of chewing, did not result in fractured implants. Since neighbouring tooth injury was assessed often, care should be taken with the selection of suitable instruments.

Automated summary

The study assessed the mechanical stability of implants after implantoplasty and thermocyclic loading, finding frequent neighbour tooth injury but no significant difference in residual implant thickness. Uninstrumented implants experienced reduced maximum fracture load after cyclic loading.