Optimized Planning and Evaluation of Dental Implant Fatigue Testing: A Specific Software Application

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Rehabilitation of missing teeth using dental implants is a common treatment option nowadays because of its high predictability. However, it is not exempt from complications such as mechanical failures, which are often related to implant and prosthesis design. Therefore, they must be tested before they are released to the market. The current regulations on in vitro fatigue tests, which ensure reliability in the mechanical function of dental implants, may be difficult to enforce due to their long duration and the high number of tests required. This work assesses this problem and proposes the use of the free software ProFatigue to optimize the process. Based on a well-known fatigue model, this software enables the researcher to determine more accurately the fatigue limit of the evaluated dental implant, as well as to reduce the testing costs due to a more suitable planning strategy of the in vitro test program. Consequently, this software may help researchers to improve the efficiency of this kind of mechanical test, which will eventually benefit those patients who may need implant-supported dental prostheses. ABSTRACT: Mechanical complications in implant-supported fixed dental prostheses are often related to implant and prosthetic design. Although the current ISO 14801 provides a framework for the evaluation of dental implant mechanical reliability, strict adherence to it may be difficult to achieve due to the large number of test specimens which it requires as well as the fact that it does not offer any probabilistic reference for determining the endurance limit. In order to address these issues, a new software program called ProFatigue is presented as a potentially powerful tool to optimize fatigue testing of implant-supported prostheses. The present work provides a brief description of some concepts such as load, fatigue and stress-number of cycles to failure curves (S-N curves), before subsequently describing the current regulatory situation. After analyzing the two most recent versions of the ISO recommendation (from 2008 and 2016), some limitations inherent to the experimental methods which they propose are highlighted. Finally, the main advantages and instructions for the correct implementation of the ProFatigue free software are given. This software will contribute to improving the performance of fatigue testing in a more accurate and optimized way, helping researchers to gain a better understanding of the behavior of dental implants in this type of mechanical test.