A finite element analysis of a dental implant with a conformal lattice structure: a parametric exploration under...

Ti-6Al-4 V dental implants are widely used because of their excellent biocompatibility and mechanical strength; however, their high elastic modulus relative to jawbone may cause stress shielding and peri-implant bone resorption. To improve biomechanical compatibility, this study introduced a gradient-regulated porous design into dental implants. A three-dimensional mandibular model was reconstructed from CT image data using reverse engineering techniques. Based on Gibson-Ashby theory, several porous architectures with a unified external octet-truss framework but different internal topologies were established, including orthogonally intersecting plates (structure 1), face-diagonal oblique plates (structure 2), an inner octahedral topology (structure 3), and the original octet-truss structure as the reference configuration. At a fixed porosity of 65%, the effects of key geometric parameters, including strut diameter and hole diameter, on the equivalent elastic modulus and bending response of these porous structures were systematically investigated by finite element analysis, and axial compression and bending simulations were combined to screen candidate structures. The results showed that structure 3 exhibited the lowest equivalent elastic modulus (16.92-19.42 GPa). In particular, structure 3(c), with a strut diameter of 0.12 mm and a hole diameter of 0.2 mm, achieved an equivalent elastic modulus of 17.00 GPa, which was 21.73% lower than that of the original octet-truss structure (21.72 GPa). Under bending loading, its magnitude of displacement was 0.014 mm, close to that of the original octet-truss structure (0.0138 mm), indicating that stiffness reduction was achieved without an obvious loss of bending stability. To further address the limited geometric adaptability of conventional regular lattices, a unit-cell-based conformal filling strategy was proposed to generate a plate-lattice porous implant matching the contour of a 5 mm diameter implant. Finally, analysis under clinically relevant occlusal loading conditions showed that the porous implant model exhibited a favorable stress-transfer pattern, promoted a relatively uniform stress distribution in the surrounding bone, and improved displacement compatibility at the bone-implant interface. These findings provide theoretical support for the structural design of porous dental implants and offer a useful basis for further structural optimization and biomechanical adaptation.