Abstract
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the association between the implant apex and the sinus floor in posterior maxilla dental implantation by means of three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) analysis. Ten 3D FE models of a posterior maxillary region with a sinus membrane and different heights of alveolar ridge with different thicknesses of sinus floor cortical bone were constructed according to anatomical data of the sinus area. Six models were constructed with the same thickness of crestal cortical bone and a 1-mm thick sinus floor cortical bone, but differing heights of alveolar ridge (between 10 and 14 mm). The four models of the second group were similar (11-mm-high alveolar ridge and 1-mm-thick crestal cortical bone) but with a changing thickness of sinus floor cortical bone (between 0.5 and 2.0 mm). The standard implant model based on the Nobel Biocare® implant system was created by computer-aided design (CAD) software and assembled into the models. The materials were assumed to be isotropic and linearly elastic. An inclined force of 129 N was applied. The maximum von Mises stress, stress distribution, implant displacement and resonance frequencies were calculated using CAD software. The von Mises stress was concentrated on the surface of the crestal cortical bone around the implant neck with the exception of that for the bicortical implantation. For immediate loading, when the implant apex broke into or through the sinus cortical bone, the maximum displacements of the implant, particularly at the implant apex, were smaller than those in the other groups. With increasing depth of the implant apex in the sinus floor cortical bone, the maximum displacements decreased and the implant axial resonance frequencies presented a linear upward tendency, but buccolingual resonance frequencies were hardly affected. This FE study on the association between implant apex and sinus floor showed that having the implant apex in contact with, piercing or breaking through the sinus floor cortical bone benefited the implant stability, particularly for immediate loading.
Highlights
It is well known that there are numerous factors that influence the stability of an implant, such as the amount of bone surrounding the implant and the quality of that bone [1], the size [2] and type [3] of implant and whether it is associated with one or two bony cortices [4]
For model 1‐1, the implant apex just broke through the sinus floor cortical bone; for model 1‐2, the implant apex broke through half the thickness of the sinus floor cortical bone; for model 1‐3, the implant apex just made contact with the lower surface of the sinus floor cortical bone; and for the remaining models the implant apexes gradually deviated from the sinus floor
In model 1‐1, the implant apex broke through the sinus floor cortical bone, which resulted in the sinus floor cortical bone suffering more stress (73.44 MPa) than the crestal cortical bone (58.69 MPa) (Fig. 4A)
Summary
It is well known that there are numerous factors that influence the stability of an implant, such as the amount of bone surrounding the implant and the quality of that bone [1], the size [2] and type [3] of implant and whether it is associated with one or two bony cortices [4]. Implant length has proved to be an important factor for the success of implantation, for the atrophied posterior maxilla area [5,6]; to the best of our knowledge, none of these studies have evaluated the association between implant apex and sinus floor cortical bone. It is not difficult to imagine that the sinus floor cortical bone can provide a support force for the implant. As the implant apex gets closer to the sinus floor, the cortical bone will stop the stress distribution and provide a bigger supporting force for the implant; this conjecture is not verified by clinical studies
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