Abstract
This study reports a method for controlling loads on an in vivo dental implant and its application for the investigation of early loading versus delayed loading of dental implants. The method was developed for the purpose of studying an ongoing hypothesis that amounts to bone loss around dental implants are related to mechanical-mediated adaptation of the alveolar bone. Using a customized intra-oral hydraulic system, the daily loading over a dental implant has been completed and recorded for six Sinclair swine. Each pig had a 5-month duration implant loading. During the experiments (loading), no analgesic treatment was supplied. The mean of the in vivo daily loadings was confirmed through an in vitro bench test after each animal was euthanized. Variations of the averaged loading input among the six animals were smaller than 10%. Preliminary data produced by the model suggests that cervical bone loss is less for early loading than for delayed loading. The current system is expected to provide a useful load control model for the study of alveolar bone adaptation around dental implants in relation to various loadings.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 863-869 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Journal of Biomechanics |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2002 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors would like to thank Dr. Scott J. Hollister for his consultations in this study, Mr. John Dalrymple for fabricating the device, the Walter Lorenz Co. for providing dental implants, and the Boos Laboratory for fabricating dental bridges. Special thanks to Mr. Diago Hamura and Mr. Young Heo for helping set up the control system of hydraulic machine. This study is supported in part by the Whitaker Foundation (RG97-0455), MDRCBB, Division of OMFS at UMN, and NIDCR DE09737.
Keywords
- Biomechanics
- Bone loss
- Dental implants
- Early loading