Evaluation of Fatigue Characterization of Implant Abutment Combination

Objectives: This study examined the effect of the shape of a dental implant fixture, the abutment joint and the abutment material on the stability of the joint area, based on the ISO/FDIS 14801:2003(E). Methods: In this study, among the AVANA implant system (Osstem Co, Ltd, Korea) produced in Korea, three types with an externally hexagonal shaped joint area between the implant fixture and abutment, 1 type of an internal and taper hexagon, and 1 type of a taper pattern, were selected as the experiment materials. Implant samples were fixed at a 30° angle with a load direction, and fatigue tests were carried out under a pulsating sinusoidal load at a load repeat frequency 10 Hz. Results: The mean static strength of the EXZRTS group was largest at 1772.2 N and that of the INTIWS group was smallest at 893.8 N. Tukey analysis showed that the group with the abutment jointwith the external hexagonal structure pattern had a significantly higher mean static strength than the group with the internal hexagonal structure pattern (P<0.05). The fatigue limit that was compared with the static strength was found to be relatively high in the cases with a tapered shape than an external hexagonal shape. In the cases where the shape of the screw jointwas an external hexagonal structure, the fatigue limit was relatively higher in cases using the zirconia abutment than the titanium abutment. Conclusions: The fatigue limit that guarantees a 5×10⁶ cycle life according to the condition established by the ISO/FDIS 14801:2003(E) in all experiment groups was shown to be 300~800 N. This work was supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation(KOSEF) grant funded by the Korea government(MOST) (No. R01-2005-000-10461-0). This work was supported by grant No. R01-2004-000-10545-0 from the Basic Research Program of the Korea Science & Engineering Foundation