HANNEMÜLLER*, HASELHUHN, HUBER, KOBES, KRANZ, PETERS (*University of Göttingen. Dental Clinic, Department of Prosthetics I, Head: Univ.-Prof Dr. LWR Kobes)
The use of two dental implants in the interforaminal area with the help of a connecting bar construction is a routine treatment of the edentulous lower jaw bone. In this connection the following clinical complications may appear after the integration of the prosthesis at different times:
Periimplantitis - inflammation of the soft-tissue and bone, loosening of the screws and screw- fracture, bar-fracture, loosening of the implant, implant-fracture and -loss. An important aspect from the multifactorial cause concerning these problems is the initiation of force and its forwarding by functional and pathological masticatory loading. The aim of this investigation is the combination of three-dimensional Finite-Element- Analysis and the strain gauge technique in order to achieve very precise data of the stress distribution. The results will help to explain failures of implant supported prostheses and to minimize them in future.