Biomechanics of oral implants: future research directions

Biomechanical principles are relevant in dental implant design because all implants share a common biomechanical purpose: the restoration of masticatory function. Key problems confronting implant designers are: What are the in vivo loadings that dental implants must support? What factors govern interfacial stress transfer? How do biomechanical factors influence tissue reactions at the interface? Dental implant designers are currently in the position of trying to design implants without complete or accurate data to answer these biomechanical questions. These three questions and suggestions for future research are answered in this paper.