Peri-Implant Biomechanical Responses to Standard, Short-Wide, and Mini Implants Supporting Single Crowns Under Axial and Off-Axial Loading (an In Vitro Study)

Abstract

This study compared the biomechanical responses of 3 single crowns supported by 3 different implants under axial and off-axial loading. A standard implant (3.75 mm diameter, 13 mm length), a mini implant (3 mm diameter, 13 mm length), and a short-wide implant (5.7 mm diameter, 8 mm length) were embedded in epoxy resin by the aid of a surveyor to ensure their parallelism. Each implant supported a full metal crown made of Ni-Cr alloy with standardized dimensions. Strain gauges and finite element analysis (FEA) were used to measure the strain induced under axial and off-axial functional loads of 300 N. Results showed that mini implants recorded the highest microstrains, under both axial and off-axial loading. All implants showed a considerable increase in strain values under off-axial loading. Standard and short-wide implants proved to be preferable in supporting crowns, as the standard implant showed the lowest strains under axial and off-axial loading using FEA simulation, while the short-wide implant showed the lowest strains under nonaxial loading using strain gauge analysis.