Effects of prosthesis materials and prosthesis splinting on peri-implant bone stress around implants in poor-quality bone: a numeric analysis.
OBJECTIVE
A 3-dimensional finite element model consisting of a bone block and 2 simulated premolar crowns supported by 2 adjacent cylindric implants without immediately surrounding cortical bone was generated and used to investigate the effects of prosthesis materials and prosthesis splinting on the peri-implant bone stress under static loads.


METHODS
The peri-implant maximum equivalent bone stress (von Mises [VM] stress) was evaluated when a vertical or a horizontal load of 1 N was applied to the center of a single resin, gold alloy, or porcelain crown, nonsplinted or splinted to the adjacent crown.


RESULTS
The numeric results indicated that: (1) in a single crown, no significant difference could be found in the maximum VM stress between different materials for both vertical and horizontal loading; (2) splinting the crowns reduced the maximum VM stress induced by the horizontal load, and the maximum VM stress increased about 14% for the horizontal loading when the restorative material was changed from gold alloy or porcelain to resin.


CONCLUSIONS
Under the condition of this study's analysis, prosthesis materials of a single crown have insignificant effects on the peri-implant bone stress. Splinting the crowns reduced the peri-implant bone stress under horizontal load, and gold alloy and porcelain each demonstrated less peri-implant bone stress than resin in the splinted crown situation under static horizontal load.


CONCLUSIONS
Splinting the crowns of adjacent implants with relatively stiff restorative materials is recommended for implants surrounded by poor-quality bone.
Wang
Tong-Mei
TM
School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Republic of China.
Leu
Liang-Jenq
LJ
Wang
Juosong
J
Lin
Li-Deh
LD
D016301:Alveolar Bone Loss / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000539:Alveolar Process / Q000502:physiology; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003188:Composite Resins; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003442:Crowns; D003776:Dental Porcelain; D019094:Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported; D003799:Dental Stress Analysis; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006047:Gold Alloys; D006801:Humans; D008334:Mandible; D008422:Materials Testing; D010516:Periodontal Splints; D016474:Weight-Bearing
D003188:Composite Resins; D006047:Gold Alloys; D003776:Dental Porcelain