Objective: Stress around implants may lead to bone resorption and loss of the implant. The present study examined the influence of percentage of osseointegration at the implant-bone interface on the transmission of occlusal forces for endosseous dental implants.
Methods: The three-dimensional finite element method used in the study was built from data obtained from slices of dental computed tomography scans. The study modeled a 3.75 x 10-mm cylindric implant placed in an edentulous mandible. Varying the elastic parameters assigned to the implant-bone interface, a load of 35 N was applied at the occlusal surface of the restoration at the vertical axis of the implant. Maximum principal stress, minimum principal stress and Von Mises stress were calculated.
Results and conclusions: The most extreme stresses in the bone were always located around the neck of the implant. Those stresses in the implant-tissue interface decreased in inverse proportion to the increase in percentage of osseointegration. These results indicate the value of osseointegration in the aspect of mechanics.