Method: Forty-eight SS (medical class 316 LVM) and 48 TiA (Ti6Al4V) MSIs (6mm long, 1.6mm diameter) were inserted into the tibias of 12 male 4-5 months old New Zealand white rabbits. Four alternating implants were randomly allocated to each tibia. Nickel titanium coil springs were used to apply 100g force to a random adjacent pair of implants in each tibia. IT and primary stability were recorded at placement. RT was measured and final stability was evaluated after euthanasia at 6 weeks of healing.
Result: All implants remained stable. SS had significantly (p=0.0048) higher insertion torque but there was no significant difference in RT. Loading and implant locations were not associated with IT and RT.
Conclusion: SS and TiA MSIs provided satisfactory stability when subjected to 100g of immediate orthodontic loading for 6 weeks in rabbit tibias. While SS MSIs generated significantly higher (9%) IT than TiA MSIs, the difference may not be clinically significant. Simialr RT was generated for both SS and TiA MSIs.