Biomechanical behavior of a new design of dental implant: Influence of the porosity and location in the maxilla

The biomechanical performance of dental implants determines their clinical success. In this work, the stress and deformation distribution of a new implant design (dense and porous) was evaluated by the Finite Element Method. Furthermore, the effect of the location of the dental implant in the maxillary zone, as well as the mechanical response in the peri-implant maxillary tissue (cortical and trabecular) is discussed in detail. Before carrying out the computational study of the dental implant, Ti6Al4V cylindrical preforms obtained by conventional powder metallurgy and space-holder technique were characterized, to choose the most appropriate porosity (percentage and size) to achieve the biomechanical and biofunctional balance of the dental implant investigated. The novel porous dental implant under investigation exhibits 40% porosity in the region in contact with the trabecular bone, featuring inclined pores at 60 and 120° with a diameter of 200 μm. Our findings revealed that the cortical bone experienced the highest stress values, whereas the trabecular bone exhibited the highest levels of strain. Notably, the location of dental implants in the maxilla highlighted as the most influential factor affecting the maximum values of von Mises equivalent stress and strain. Furthermore, in the second molar location, the stress and strain levels exceeded the recommended thresholds for maintaining peri-implant bone density. Additionally, the porous implants generated significantly higher levels of stress and strain in the peri-implant trabecular bone than dense implants.