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. 2015 Aug;7(4):323-8.
doi: 10.4047/jap.2015.7.4.323. Epub 2015 Aug 18.

Wear, microleakage and plastic deformation of an implant-supported chair-side bar system

Christian Johannes Mehl  1 , Martin Steiner  1 , Klaus Ludwig  1 , Matthias Kern  1
Affiliations

Wear, microleakage and plastic deformation of an implant-supported chair-side bar system

Christian Johannes Mehl et al. J Adv Prosthodont. 2015 Aug.

Abstract

Purpose: This in-vitro study was designed to evaluate retention forces, microleakage and plastic deformation of a prefabricated 2-implant bar attachment system (SFI-Bar, Cendres+Métaux, Switzerland).

Materials and methods: Two SFI implant-adapters were torqued with 35 Ncm into two implant analogues. Before the tube bars were finally sealed, the inner cavity of the tube bar was filled with liquid red dye to evaluate microleakage. As tube bar sealing agents three different materials were used (AGC Cem (AGC, resin based), Cervitec Plus (CP; varnish) and Gapseal (GS; silicone based). Four groups with eight specimens each were tested (GS, GS+AGC, AGC, CP). For cyclic loading, the attachment system was assembled parallel to the female counterparts in a chewing simulator. The mean retention forces of the initial and final ten cycles were statistically evaluated (ANOVA, α≤.05).

Results: All groups showed a significant loss of retention forces. Their means differed between 30-39 N initially and 22-28 N after 50,000 loading cycles. No significant statistical differences could be found between the groups at the beginning (P=.224), at the end (P=.257) or between the loss of retention forces (P=.288). Microleakage occurred initially only in some groups but after 10,000 loading cycles all groups exhibited microleakage.

Conclusion: Long-term retention forces of the SFI-Bar remained above 20 N which can be considered clinically sufficient. The sealing agents in this study are not suitable to prevent microleakage.

Keywords: Chewing simulator; Cyclic long-term loading; Implant; Microleakage; Retention; SFI-Bar.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no financial or other conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Schematic drawing of the SFI-Bar system.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. (A) + (B) Pictures of the specimen holder for microleakage observation. (C) Exemplary close-up view of microleakage of red dye at the left side of a SFI-Bar.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. (A) Schematic drawing and (B) photography of the specimen holder.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. Four specimen holders mounted in the chewing simulator for cyclic loading.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5. Exemplary graph of (A) the loss of retention force over 50,000 cycles of detaching and (B) SFI-Bar flexion before and after cyclic loading.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6. Box-plots of the retention forces for the first and last ten attaching and detaching cycles.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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