Improving dental implant stability by optimizing thread design: Simultaneous application of finite element method and data mining approach.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Lack of knowledge regarding the optimal design of thread configuration in dental implants, which can offer a satisfactory level of stability in the implant-bone construct, is a significant challenge in the field of dental biomechanics. PURPOSE: The purpose of this finite element analysis study was to identify the optimal thread design by investigating the effects of thread parameters such as thread depth (TD), thread width (TW), and thread pitch (TP), as well as upper (α) and lower (ß) thread angles, on the maximum principal stress in cancellous and cortical bone, maximum von Mises stress in the dental implant, and maximum shear stress at the implant-bone interface. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A finite element model of an alveolar bone segment with a dental implant was developed. The Latin hypercube sampling method was used to generate a dataset of virtual experiments, which were analyzed by using the decision tree method to identify suitable thread designs that minimize mechanical stimuli. Additionally, the effectiveness of thread parameters on stress levels in the bone, implant, and their interface were assessed. RESULTS: The results of this study, verified by comparison with previous literature, indicated that TD, TW, and upper thread angle were the most effective parameters in promoting implant stability. CONCLUSIONS: By analyzing the decision trees, optimum ranges for all the thread parameters were determined as follows: 0.25

Optimization of thread configuration in dental implants through regulating the mechanical stimuli in neighboring bone.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The threads, as the most critical component of dental implants, transfer the imposed occlusal loads to the adjacent bone. Moreover, regulation of the mechanical stimuli in the implant adjacent bone is crucial to maximize the bone-implant construct stability. An optimal thread design can be resulted when the distribution of mechanical stimuli within the bone, and at the implant-bone interface, lie in an advised confined range. In this work, with the goal of finding the optimal thread design, which can provide the maximum level of stability, the effects of thread parameters, namely, thread depth, thread width, and thread pitch, together with upper and lower thread angles, on maximum principal strain within the cortical and cancellous bone, and shear strain at the implant-bone interface, were investigated. METHODS: In this study, the response surface methodology (RSM), due to the central composite design (CCD), was employed to obtain a set of 53 experiments. Following that, they were numerically simulated using the finite element method (FEM). The polynomial regression model was then used to predict the response functions based on the magnitude of thread parameters. The effectiveness of each thread parameter was also evaluated through statistical tools. Moreover, the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) was performed to find the optimum dimensions of the thread. RESULTS: Through comparing the results obtained from analyzing initial and optimized configuration of threads, it was shown that the latter causes a reduction in the maximum principal strains in cancellous and cortical bones by about 25% and 30%, respectively, which is in favor of making a higher quality bone, and thus greater stability in dental implant-bone construct. Moreover, the maximum shear strains at the implant-bone interface in different planes were reduced by about 40%, in the optimized thread, compared with the initial design. CONCLUSIONS: The optimized design found in this study is a buttress thread with a fine pitch, but deep thread, which keeps the mechanical stimuli in a safe range to grant an acceptable level of stability.

Effect of the dimensions of implant body and thread on bone resorption and stability in trapezoidal threaded dental implants: a sensitivity analysis and optimization.

Implant body and threads direct the functional loads from implant to bones. Appropriate design of implant helps implant stability. Therefore, implant length, diameter, and thread depth, width, pitch, and inner angle are assessed to recognize their effects on von-Mises stress and micromotion of implant and bones. The FE model of mandible with a threaded dental implant is modeled then the central composite design is used to assess the effects of parameters. The optimization is conducted to find the optimum design; however, it reduced the Max von-Mises stress in implant-abutment, cancellous, and cortical bones by 10%, 35%, and 27%, respectively.

Configuration and Optimization of a Minichannel Using Water-Alumina Nanofluid by Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm and Response Surface Method.

Nanofluids in minichannels with various configurations are applied as cooling and heating fluids. Therefore, it is essential to have an optimal design of minichannels. For this purpose, a square channel with a cylinder in the center connected to wavy fins at various concentrations of an Al2O3 nanofluid is simulated using the finite volume method (FVM). Moreover, central composite design (CCD) is used as a method of design of experiment (DOE) to study the effects of three input variables, namely the cylinder diameter, channel width, and fin radius on the convective heat transfer and pumping power. The impacts of the linear term, together with those of the square and interactive on the response variables are determined using Pareto and main effects plots by an ANOVA. The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II), along with the response surface methodology (RSM) is applied to achieve the optimal configuration and nanofluid concentration. The results indicate that the effect of the channel width and cylinder diameter enhances about 21% and 18% by increasing the concentration from 0% to 5%. On the other hand, the pumping power response is not sensitive to the nanofluid concentration. Besides, the channel width has the highest and lowest effect on the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and pumping power, respectively. The optimization for a concentration of 3% indicates that in Re = 500 when the geometry is optimized, the HTC enhances by almost 9%, while the pumping power increases by about 18%. In contrast, by increasing the concentration from 1% to 3%, merely an 8% enhancement in HTC is obtained, while the pumping power intensifies around 60%.

Statistical analysis of implant and thread parameters effects on dental implant stability and bone resorption using central composite design method.

The effect of dental implant parameters, length and diameter, and thread parameters consisting of thread depth, width, pitch and inner angle on Max von-Mises stress in implant-abutment and cancellous bone is investigated. A three-dimensional finite element model of a threaded dental implant and mandibular segment is built. Face-centered central composite design is applied as the design of experiments method to study and optimize the six independent variable parameters at three levels by applying response surface methodology. The simultaneous analysis of these parameters is run to obtain a better perspective on their effects on responses. The effects of linear, square, and interactive terms on responses through Pareto, main effects, and interaction plots are determined through analysis of variance. A second-order polynomial equation is fitted to the model to predict the response magnitude. The results indicate that implant diameter and its interaction with thread depth are effective in decreasing the likelihood of bone resorption. The implant length affects the Max von-Mises stress in implant-abutment, with no effect on the Max von-Mises stress in cancellous bone. The optimization process caused about 10% and 30% reduction in the magnitude of Max von-Mises stress in implant-abutment and cancellous bone, respectively.