The Effect of Simplifying Dental Implant Drilling Sequence on Osseointegration: An Experimental Study in Dogs

Objectives. To test the hypothesis that there would be no differences in osseointegration by reducing the number of drills for site preparation relative to conventional drilling sequence. Methods. Seventy-two implants were bilaterally placed in the tibia of 18 beagle dogs and remained for 1, 3, and 5 weeks. Thirty-six implants were 3.75 mm in diameter and the other 36 were 4.2 mm. Half of the implants of each diameter were placed under a simplified technique (pilot drill + final diameter drill) and the other half were placed under conventional drilling where multiple drills of increasing diameter were utilized. After euthanisation, the bone-implant samples were processed and referred to histological analysis. Bone-to-implant contact (BIC) and bone-area-fraction occupancy (BAFO) were assessed. Statistical analyses were performed by GLM ANOVA at 95% level of significance considering implant diameter, time in vivo, and drilling procedure as independent variables and BIC and BAFO as the dependent variables. Results. Both techniques led to implant integration. No differences in BIC and BAFO were observed between drilling procedures as time elapsed in vivo. Conclusions. The simplified drilling protocol presented comparable osseointegration outcomes to the conventional protocol, which proved the initial hypothesis.