Purpose: To evaluate the abutment removal torque and the morphologic aspects of wear in frictional Morse taper connections after axial loading with or without biofilm immersion.
Materials and methods: Thirty sets of Morse taper implants and prosthetic abutments were divided into six groups based on the number of mechanical loading cycles and immersion in biofilm derived from human saliva: without load, without biofilm; without load, with biofilm; 100,000 cycles of load, without biofilm; 100,000 cycles of load, with biofilm; 500,000 cycles of load, without biofilm; and 500,000 cycles of load, with biofilm. Mechanical loading was applied at a force of 80 ± 15 N with a frequency of 2 Hz for 100,000 or 500,000 cycles. After removal torque evaluation, the internal surface of the implants was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy and optical profilometer. The results were statistically analyzed at a significance level of P = .05.
Results: Overall, the removal torque increased for samples submitted to loading (100,000 cycles of load, without biofilm = 83.8 ± 15.8 Ncm; 100,000 cycles of load, with biofilm = 160.6 ± 16.2 Ncm; 500,000 cycles of load, without biofilm = 147.0 ± 29.3 Ncm; 500,000 cycles of load, with biofilm = 154.5 ± 14.0 Ncm) compared to samples without loading (without load, without biofilm = 23.0 ± 9.4 Ncm; without load, with biofilm = 27.2 ± 7.5 Ncm). The removal torque was not different between groups that received the same number of loading cycles and varied on biofilm exposure (P > .05). However, samples immersed in biofilm showed higher values of removal torque. Surface analysis revealed that the damage on the internal surface of implants was lower in samples not submitted to cyclic mechanical loading (P < .05) independently of immersion in biofilm medium.
Conclusion: Cyclic mechanical load on the frictional implant-abutment connection of Morse taper implants increased the removal torque of abutments. The findings of this research suggest that the presence of biofilm can potentially increase the removal torque in frictional Morse taper connections, although more studies are recommended to support this affirmation. Oral biofilm did not interfere with the presence of wear areas along the internal surface of Morse taper implants but increased the roughness values.