Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D A Mendel.
Osseointegrated implant support of dental restorations continues to be a popular option for the contemporary patient with missing natural dentition. This article focuses on the two most frequently used methods for attaching final prostheses to endosseous implants. The authors offer practical solutions for minimizing implant screw loosening and describe the factors involved in maintaining stable screw joint assembly.
Because of reported prosthodontic failures, alternative implant abutments and screws with suggested strength superiority have been manufactured. However, little quantitative data are available to support these claims. This study compared the force necessary to cause failure in many of the more commonly used implant and abutment combinations. An 18-mm cantilever test prosthesis was constructed for each system and loaded on an MTS machine until failure occurred (n = 5 for each sample). The mean failure forces ranged from 1.22 to 17.23 kg. The failure force and location of failure for each individual system are reported.