Effect of material type, torque value, and sterilization on linear displacements of a scan body: An in vitro study

There is limited knowledge on the effect of scan body (SB) material type, torque value, and sterilization on linear displacements of implant SBs.

To evaluate the effect of material type, torque value, and sterilization on linear displacements of SBs during screw tightening by using digital image correlation (DIC) analysis.

One polyetheretherketone (PEEK, Zfx Intraoral Scan Body) and one titanium SB (Ti, MPS Zimmer Scanbody R1410) were tightened with 5 Ncm torque on two implants (Zimmer TSV ⌀4.7 mm) by using a digital torque limiting device. SBs' initial spatial positions relative to the implants were recorded by using 3D DIC technique. Measurements were repeated after initially increasing torque value to 10 Ncm and then to 15 Ncm, and these steps were repeated for a total of 10 PEEK and 10 Ti SBs on both implants (n = 20). All SBs were then sterilized 25 times by using an autoclave (STATIM 5000 S G4) according to manufacturer's recommendations and all measurements were repeated. Linear displacements on three axes were calculated for each SB with increasing torque values (from 5 to 10 Ncm and from 10 to 15 Ncm) before and after sterilization. SB displacements within each torque value-sterilization pair were compared by using Mann-Whitney U test, whereas Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare SB displacements within each material-torque value pair between conditions and within each material-sterilization pair between torque values (α = 0.05).

On x-axis, PEEK SBs had higher displacements than Ti SBs (p < 0.001), whereas sterilization (p ≤ 0.028) and 15 Ncm torque application (p ≤ 0.006) led to higher displacements of PEEK SBs. On y-axis, PEEK SBs had higher displacements than Ti SBs with 15 Ncm torque application (p ≤ 0.033). A total of 15 Ncm torque-applied PEEK SBs and 10 Ncm torque-applied Ti SBs had higher displacements after sterilization (p ≤ 0.028). Application of 15 Ncm torque led to higher displacements regardless of the material (p ≤ 0.002). On z-axis, PEEK SBs had higher displacements (p ≤ 0.015), except for 10 Ncm torque-applied sterilized SBs (p = 0.102). With 10 Ncm torque application, sterilization decreased the displacement values of PEEK SBs (p = 0.044). Greater displacements were observed with 10 Ncm torque-applied Ti SBs before sterilization and 15 Ncm torque-applied PEEK SBs after sterilization (p ≤ 0.033).

Axial displacement of SBs was affected by material type, torque value, and sterilization. Ti SBs mostly had lower displacements than PEEK SBs. Application of 15 Ncm torque to tested PEEK SBs should be refrained from and a calibrated tightening tool may enable the application of 10 Ncm or lower torque values for lower displacements. Sterilization generally increased PEEK SB displacements.