Effect of Crown Materials and Abutment Designs on Displacement Value in Dental Implant-supported Restorations: An In Vitro Study

Abstract

Aim:

Elastic dental implant crown material may be able to reduce the impact force that is transmitted to the implant and the surrounding alveolar bone during the occlusal process. This study aims to compare the displacement values of implant-supported single crowns with different crown materials and abutment designs.

The hypothesis (T0) of this study was that different crown materials and abutment designs have no effect on the displacement values of dental implant-supported restorations.

Materials and Methods:

Crowns were fabricated from three different materials: Aidite zirconia, Vita Enamic resin-matrix ceramics, and breCAM PEEK. These crowns were paired with custom abutments featuring different clearance values (1 mm, 2 mm, and 3 mm), as well as a prefabricated abutment group. This resulted in a total of 12 experimental groups, formed by combining the three materials with the four types of abutments. Each group consisted of 10 samples, for a total of 120 samples. Displacement values were measured using a universal material testing machine. Data were analysed using analysis of variance with Tukey’s post hoc test.

Results:

One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test and Levene’s test for homogeneity of variance were employed. Additionally, the two-way ANOVA revealed that both crown materials and abutment designs significantly affected the displacement values of implant-supported restorations. The polyetheretherketone 3-mm group exhibited the highest displacement value. The polyetheretherketone 3-mm group exhibited the highest displacement value (0.331 ± 0.024 mm, P < .001), while the calcium oxide 3-mm group showed the lowest displacement value (0.143 ± 0.002 mm, P < .001).

Conclusion:

For elastic materials, an increase in material thickness corresponded with increased deformation. For zirconia, increased material thickness led to decreased deformation. Therefore, their buffering effects on implant restorations are completely different.