Predicting Peri-implant Stresses Around Titanium and Zirconium Dental Implants-A Finite Element Analysis

Due to anatomical and surgical constrains the implant placement may not be parallel to each other always. Non-parallel implants are subjected to detrimental stresses at implant bone interface. Also depending on type of implant material i.e. titanium or zirconium, stresses tend to vary due to change in physical and mechanical properties. Hence stress analysis at implant bone interface between different parallel and non-parallel implants becomes significant. Evaluation and comparison of stress distribution in the bone around two parallel and non-parallel titanium and zirconium dental implants on axial and non-axial loading supporting three unit fixed prosthesis. Three dimensional finite element models (M1, M2, M3) were made of three differently angulated implants in ANSYS (11.0 Version) software and P4 processor with a speed of 3 GHz and 3 Gb RAM hardware, common for titanium and zirconium implants. Stress around the implants was analyzed on an axial load of 200 N and a non-axial load of 50 N. In both titanium and zirconium implants on axial loading in cortical bone, higher stresses were observed in M3 followed by M2 and M1. On non-axial loading higher stresses were observed in M2, followed by M3 and M1. In both titanium and zirconium implants on axial and non-axial loading in cancellous bone stresses were higher in M3 followed by M2 and M1. Zirconium implants showed lower stresses in cortical bone and higher stresses in cancellous bone compared to titanium implants. Over all Stresses in the bone were more due to titanium implants than zirconium implants. Zirconium implants led to lower peri-implant stresses than titanium implants.