Mechanical Stability of Restorations Supported by Titanium Base, Zirconia, and Polyetherketoneketone Abutments on...

To evaluate survival, complication rates, and bending moments of one- and two-piece zirconia implants restored with different abutment materials and lithium disilicate crowns after aging, compared to titanium implants restored with titanium base-supported lithium disilicate crowns.

Sixty anterior crowns were either screwretained on two-piece titanium implants (C) and two-piece zirconia implants (T1, T2, T3) or cemented on one-piece zirconia implants (T4), resulting in 5 groups with 12 specimens each. For the screw-retained crowns, different abutment materials and implant connections were tested: titanium base with internal conical connection and horizontal joint component (C and T2), zirconia with internal hexagonal connection and horizontal joint component (T1), and polyetherketoneketone with internal hexagonal connection and horizontal joint component (T3). After artificial aging with thermocycling (5°C to 50°C) and chewing simulation (1,200,000 cycles, 49 N, 1.67 Hz), the surviving specimens were loaded until fracture, and the bending moments were calculated. Survival rates and respective differences during aging were analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier log-rank test, while complication rates were compared with chi-square tests. Bending moment data were evaluated using the Kruskal-Wallis test (α = .05).

Survival rates after artificial aging ranged from 75% (T1) to 100% (C and T4) without significant differences between the groups (P > .05). Only 41.5% of the surviving specimens were free of complications, while the remaining presented screw-loosening, loss of retention of crowns, or cracks on the crown or implant level. The complication rates varied significantly among the groups (P < .05). The mean bending moments were 173.7 × 20.1 (C), 114.5 × 20.1 (T1), 171.1 × 46.1 (T2), 258.1 × 147.4 (T3), and 194.7 × 30.9 Ncm (T4), and group T1 exhibited significantly lower median bending moment values than the other groups (P < .001).

The zirconia one- and two-piece implants presented high survival rates after aging, yet the number of technical complications was high. New prosthetic solutions, such as titanium bases or polyetherketoneketone abutments, may offer a comparable treatment option to restore two-piece zirconia implants.