Background: It is not yet well understood to what extent different implant-abutment mismatch sizes and implant-abutment connection types may influence the peri-implant biomechanical environment of implants in different clinical situations.
Methods: Computed tomography-based finite element models comprising a maxillary central incisor socket and 4.5 × 13 mm outer-diameter implants with external and internal hex connection types were constructed. The abutments were designed with diameters of 3.5 mm (platform switching [PS] with 1 mm of diametral mismatch [PS - 1]), 4.0 mm (PS with 0.5 mm of diametral mismatch [PS - 0.5]), and 4.5 mm (conventional matching implant-abutment design [CD]). Analysis of variance at the 95% confidence interval was used to evaluate peak equivalent strain (EQV strain) in the bone, bone volume affected by a strain >4,000 με (EQV strain >4,000 με), the peak von Mises stress (EQV stress) in abutment screw, and the bone-implant relative displacement.
Results: Similar bone strain levels (EQV strain and EQV strain >4,000 με) were encountered in PS - 1, PS - 0.5, and CD models for immediately placed implants, independent of the connection type. For immediately loaded implants, slightly smaller peak EQV strain and EQV strain >4,000 με were found for PS - 1. However, for both connection types in osseointegrated models, the higher the mismatch size, the lesser the amount of strain found.
Conclusions: The increase in mismatch size of PS configuration results in a significant decrease of strain levels in bone for osseointegrated implants, principally for external hex connections. No significant effect of PS could be noted in immediately placed implants.
Keywords: Biomechanics; dental implant, abutment design; dental implants; finite element analysis; immediate dental implant loading; tensile strength.