Numerical study of effect of elastomeric stress absorbers on stress reduction in bone-dental implant interface

OBJECTIVE This paper focused on optimal stress distribution in the mandibular bone surrounding a dental implant and is devoted to the development of a modified Osteoplant® implant type in order to minimize stress concentration in the bone-implant interface. MATERIAL AND METHODS This study investigated 0.4 mm thick layers of two elastomeric stress barriers incorporated into the dental implant using 3-D finite element analysis. RESULTS Overall, this proposed implant provoked lower load transfer in bone-implant interface due to the effect of the elastomers as stress absorbers. The stress level in the bone was reduced between 28% and 42% for three load cases: 75 N, 60 N and 27 N in corono-apical, linguo-buccal and disto-mesial direction, respectively. CONCLUSION The proposed model provided an acceptable solution for load transfer reduction to the mandible. This investigation also permitted to choose how to incorporate two elastomers into the Osteoplant® implant system.