Theoretical Percussion Force of the Periotest Diagnosis

he Periotest percussion force acting on a dental implant was estimated by assuming a mass-spring-dashpot model of the implant-bone system constructed on the basis of a clinical experiment. A theoretical value of about 10 N, comparable to hitherto reported experimental values, was obtained for an osseointegrated implant of about 1 g. The percussion force would probably be smaller for a heavier implant. Keywords: dental implant, percussion force