Effect of Varying Diameter of Dental Implants During Placements in Compromised Bony Ridges at Different Insertion Torques: A Finite Element Study

The life of dental implant depends on various parameters such as insertion torque, implant diameter and cortical and cancellous bones thickness. The thickness of the cortical and cancellous bones varies from patient to patient and for each thickness, the corresponding studies are required to determine the favorable implant loading. In this study, stress analysis on various dental implant fixtures inserted in compromised bony ridges is performed using three dimensional finite element analyses. Initially, the modeling and analysis of previously analyzed structure is done to validate the solution procedure. After successful validation, three dimensional linear elastic analysis of bone implant bone assembly is performed. The implant material is treated as isotropic whereas the bone materials are taken as anisotropic materials. The parametric study finds the effect of insertion torque and variation of implant diameter on stress induced in the compromised bony ridge. Further, the implant bone assembly was analyzed using various cortical bone thicknesses. It has been observed that the increase in torque results in increased stress and deformation in the bone. With increasing bone thickness, the similar variation of torque produces less stress and deformation in dental implants. The study is helpful in prediction of favorable implant loading and implants diameters for compromised bony ridges. The study provides useful knowledge in improving the performance and life of dental implants.