title: Highly Nonlinear Solitary Waves for the Assessment of Dental Implant Mobility.
abstract: In this paper we present a noninvasive technique based on the propagation of highly nonlinear solitary waves (HNSWs) to monitor the stability of dental implants. HNSWs are nondispersive mechanical waves that can form and travel in highly nonlinear systems, such as one-dimensional chains of spherical particles. The technique is based on the hypothesis that the mobility of a dental implant affects certain characteristics of the HNSWs reflected at the interface between a crystal-based transducer and the implant. To validate the research hypothesis we performed two experiments: first we observed the hydration of commercial plaster to simulate at large the osseointegration process that occurs in the oral connective tissue once a dental-endosteal threaded implant is surgically inserted; then, we monitored the decalcification of treated bovine bones immersed in an acid bath to simulate the inverse of the osseointegration process. In both series, we found a good correlation between certain characteristics of the HNSWs and the stiffness of the material under testing.
authors.affiliation: Research Undergraduate Laboratory for NDE and SHM Studies Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA, 15261 e-mail:  bruk.berhanu@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bruk
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Berhanu
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor Laboratory for NDE and SHM Studies Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Pittsburgh 942 Benedum Hall, 3700 O'Hara St. Pittsburgh, PA, 15261 e-mail:  pir3@pitt.edu.
authors.forename: Piervincenzo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rizzo
authors.affiliation: Associate Dean and Chair Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the School of Dental Medicine University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15261 e-mail:  mwo1@pitt.edu.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ochs
keywords: dental implants; highly nonlinear solitary waves; nondestructive testing; osseointegration