Comparative Biomechanical Study of Self-tapping and Non Self-tapping Tapered Dental Implants in Artificially Simulated Quality 2 Bone

Abstract

Purpose: Modifications of implant design have been related to improving initial stability. The purpose of this study was to investigate their respective effect on initial stability between two tapered implant systems (self-tapping vs. non-self-tapping) in medium density bone using three different analytic methods. Materials and Methods: Self-tapping implant (GS III<TEX>$^{(R)}$</TEX>; Osstem Implant Co., Busan, Korea) and non-self-tapping implant (Replace Select<TEX>$^{(R)}$</TEX>; Nobel Biocare, G<TEX>$\H{o}$</TEX>teborg, Sweden) were investigated. In Solid rigid polyurethane blocks of artificially simulated Quality 2 bone, each of the 5 implants was inserted according to the manufacturer's instructions for medium-bone drilling protocol. Evaluation of initial stability was carried out by recording the maximum insertion torque (IT) and performing the resonance frequency analysis (RFA), and the pull-out test. Results: The IT and RFA values of self-tapping implant were significantly higher than those of non self-tapping implant (P=.009 and P=.047, respectively). In the pull-out values, no significant differences were found in implants between two groups (P=.117). Within each implant system, no statistically significant correlation was found among three different outcome variables. Conclusions: These findings suggest that design characteristics of implant geometry significantly influence the initial stability in medium bone density.