A finite element analysis of the fatigue behavior and risk of failure of immediate provisional implants

Abstract

Background: Temporary dental implants are used to support provisional prostheses. The goal of this study was to obtain the stress-number (S-N) curves of cycles of five temporary dental implants employing finite element methods. Additionally, a probabilistic analysis was carried out to obtain the failure probability of each dental implant. Methods: To obtain these curves, first the maximum value of the fracture load was obtained by simulation of a compression test. Subsequently, the fatigue life was simulated by varying each of the loads from the maximum value to a minimum value (10% of the maximum value), and the minimum number of cycles that it should support was calculated. Results: The fatigue limit of titanium in these implants was around 200 MPa with the maximum number of cycles between 64,976 and 256,830. The maximum compression load was between 100 and 80 N. Regarding the probability of failure, all implants were expected to behave similarly. Conclusions: This study of finite elements provided the values of maximum load supported by each of the implants, and the relationship between the stress in the implant and the number of cycles that it could support with a probability of failure. An international standard on how to perform fatigue studies in temporary dental implants was deemed necessary.