Fatigue life estimation in dental implants

This paper studies the fatigue behaviour of dental implants made of commercially pure titanium grade 4. This work analyses the influence of different factors: stress concentration at the external thread and the surface treatment. This objective is achieved by designing a series of fatigue tests in simple geometries (smooth specimens with and without the surface treatment) and in commercial implants. On the other hand, the stresses in the implant have been modelled with ANSYS, from these stresses the stress intensity factor is calculated and the initiation and propagation phases are analysed. Finally the theoretical and experimental results are compared. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.