A study on setting of the fatigue limit of temporary dental implants

A temporary dental implant is a medical device which is temporarily used to support a prosthesis such as an artificial tooth used for restoring patient's masticatory function during implant treatment. It is implanted in the oral cavity to substitute for the role of tooth. Due to the aging and westernization of current Korean society, the number of tooth extraction and implantation procedures is increasing, leading to an increase in the use and development of temporary dental implants. Because an implant performs a masticatory function in place of a tooth, a dynamic load is repeatedly put on the implant. Thus, the fatigue of implants is reported to be the most common causes of the fracture thereof. According to the investigation and analysis of the current domestic and international standards, the standard for fatigue of implant fixtures is not separately specified. Although a test method for measuring the fatigue is suggested in an ISO standard, it is a standard for permanent dental implants. Most of the test standards for Korean manufacturers and importers apply 250 N or more based on the guidance for the safety and performance evaluation of dental implants. Therefore, this study is intended to figure out the fatigue standard which can be applied to temporary dental implants when measuring the fatigue according to the test method suggested in the permanent dental implant standard. The results determined that suitable fatigue standards of temporary dental implants should be provided by each manufacturer rather than applying 250 N. This study will be useful for the establishment of the fatigue standards and fatigue test methods of the manufacturers and importers of temporary dental implants.