The effect of osseodensification and different thread designs on the dental implant primary stability

Background: It is difficult to achieve good primary stability of dental implants in soft bone, such as that in the posterior maxillae. Osseodensification (OD) burs, working in a non-subtractive fashion, condense the implant osteotomy bone in lateral direction and increase in the bone implant contact. Also, dental implants with deeper threads, and decreased thread pitch can increase initial bone implant anchorage. Methods: This study utilized 48 custom-made machined surface dental implants that were 13 mm long, with a major diameter of 4.5 mm and a minor diameter of 3.5 mm, a thread pitch of 1 mm, a thread depth of 0.5 mm, and a 4 mm long cutting flute at the apex.  The implants were divided into 4 groups, each group was made of 12 implants with a different thread design; V-shaped, trapezoid, buttress, and reverse buttress. The implants were inserted in 4-mm thick cancellous bone slices obtained from the head of Cow femur bone. The ostoetomies were prepared by conventional drilling and by OD drilling. Each inserted implant was then tested for primary stability using the Periotest. The Periotest values (PTVs) for the implant stability were tabulated and analyzed using a chi square test at significance level p< 0.05. Results: The results of this this study revealed no statistically significant difference between the Periotest readings for the implants in each category placed in either the OD or the regular osteotomies. However, it has been found that the implants placed in regular drilling ostoetomies had a significantly better primary stability than the implants placed in OD osteotomies. Conclusions: It was concluded that OD is not necessary in situations where there is bone of good quality and quantity.