Computer simulation of dental implant treatments

Behavior of the peri-implant tissue following a dental implant surgery is simulated. The cascade of tissue responses starting with healing, followed by remodeling are investigated. Although different implant designs, implant widths and amounts of micro-motion during the healing period were all shown to have important effects on the long-term status of the surrounding region; the amount of micro-motion was found to have the most noticeable impact. It was shown that increasing the micro-motion always leads to a lower bone quality and development of more cartilaginous tissue. However, it was found that increasing the micro-motion beyond a specific amount, depending on the geometry and design of the implant, does not lead to more bone resorption in the regions adjacent to the implant which provides a more reliable bone-implant contact.