Analysis on the stress of the bone surrounding mini-implant with different diameters and lengths under torque

The purpose of this study is to compare the stress of the bone around the mini-implant under the two kinds of force: the composite force which contains torque and traditional single force. There were 96 finite element models formed by the combination of mini-implant and bone, with diameters of 1.2 mm, 1.6 mm, 2.0 mm and corresponding length being 6 mm, 8 mm, 10 mm, 12 mm, respectively. Each size corresponded to 8 models. Group SF (each size n=4) was loaded with 200 g single force, while Group CF (each size n=4) was loaded with composite force which contained 6N mm torque and 200 g single force. The maximum equivalent stress (Max EQS) of the bone surrounding mini implant with different loading directions was calculated, and the relationship of force direction, diameter and length was also evaluated. The Max EQS of Group CF was higher than that of Group SF. The effect of force direction on the stress was related to the diameter of mini implant, but had nothing to do with its length. The Max EQS of the cortical bone around mini implant in Group CF was higher (P<0.05) than that in Group SF. In contrast, there was no significant difference (P>0.05) between Group SF and Group CF in terms of bone stress when the diameter of mini implant was 1.6 mm or 2.0 mm. In our study, it is demonstrated that the diameter of mini-implant is better to be larger than 1.2 mm when a mini-implant is used in a torque control of tooth. The impact of this feature in the clinical setting needs to be verified.