The influence of contact area between implant and its adjacent teeth on finite element analysis

The aim of this work is to investigate the influence of contact area between the first molar implant and its adjacent teeth on finite element analysis. Five types of finite element contact models containing implant and its adjacent teeth were established: non-contact model (C0), contact models with different contact area (C1, C2, C3, C4). An occlusal force was applied to finite element models to calculate the stress of implant and bone interface on mandible. Compared with the group C0, the stress of alveolar bone surrounding the implant in other groups decreased 88.08 % at most, but the stress of cancellous bone surrounding the natural teeth increased 59.42 %. In summary, a proper small contact area can not only reduce the stress concentration on the implant region, but also can avoid an excessive stress in the periodontal ligament and alveolar bone around the natural teeth. The finite element results revealed that it is effectively to distribute the load implant suffered, especially to reduce the stress generated by the lateral load when the first molar implant has a small contact with its adjacent teeth.