Bone Response to Static Compressive Stress at Bone-Implant Interface: A Pilot Study of Critical Static Compressive Stress

Purpose: Mechanical imbalance caused by mechanical overload or poor bone quality around a dental implant can result in osseointegration failure. To avoid that, it is important to identify an appropriate safety stress margin (critical stress level). For this study, a novel device was developed to generate a quantitative amount of static compressive stress under an aseptic closed condition. The aim was to clarify the amount of critical stress produced on the cortical bone when static compression is applied to the osseointegrated bone-implant interface. Materials and Methods: Small parts for bone sustaining, load generation, and load transmittance were developed to generate quantitative static compressive stress at the bone-implant interface and implanted inside the tibial cortical bone in adult beagle dogs. Each tibia in two dogs received bone-sustaining parts, then after 2 months, the load-transmitting parts were placed into the bone-sustaining parts. After another 2 months, various magnitudes of static compressive stress (0-180 MPa) were generated by tightening the load-generating part to the osseointegrated bone-implant interface. After 7 days, the animals were euthanized, and dissected blocks were prepared for histomorphometric analyses. Results: There were no obvious signs of bone resorption or loss of osseointegration in any of the dogs. The change in shape of osteon was not influenced by the amount of static compressive stress. However, periosteal reactions were observed under the cortical bone on the opposite side. Conclusion: These results indicate that osseointegrated bone-implant interfaces show minimal response based on the magnitude of static compressive stress, even when such stress is greater than 120 MPa. Keywords: bone-implant interface, critical stress, osteon, quantitative analysis, static compressive stress, structural optimization