Dental implant thread profile optimization using Taguchi approach

Abstract

Dental Implants are commonly used for replacement of the natural teeth due to damage occurred because of old age, infection. The stress distribution around the implant decides the implant success and its stability. The thread design of the implant is critical in ensuring an even distribution of stress around the implant. In this study the design of the implant thread of dental implant with buttress thread profile was optimized to reduce the stress at bone-implant interface using Taguchi method (Full Factorial Design). The control factors (Pitch, Height, depth of the implant thread design and two levels of these three parameters) were placed in an L8 orthogonal array. The eight thread design combinations derived from orthogonal array were used to prepare the CAD models and further subjected to Finite element analysis to find the optimized von Mises stress. These thread design combinations were further subjected to Factorial Analysis (pareto chart of effects), One-way ANOVA analysis, and the main effects plots were found for the response. The results showed that the thread design with pitch as 1.2 mm, height as 0.07 mm and depth as 0.41 is optimum design. The pareto chart of effects and ANOVA showed that the depth of the implant thread design proved to be most significant parameter and had most influence on the von Mises stress at bone-implant interface.