The effects of flute shape and thread profile on the insertion torque and primary stability of dental implants

Easy insertion of the implant and stable bone purchase is essential for an ideal dental implantation. At the implant tip, the cutting flutes and conical profile are respectively designed to reduce insertion resistance and facilitate the initial insertion. However, the tapered tip might reduce the self-tapping and bone-purchasing abilities of the flutes and the tip threads. Using sawbone blocks as standard specimens, this study experimentally measures the insertion torque, holding power, and bending strength of eight varieties of implant (4 shapes × 2 profiles). The bony contact, interfacial mechanism, and the altered shape of the flutes, at different section planes, are used to explain the experimental results. The results reveal that the bone-implant gaps at the tip region significantly suppress both the self-tapping and bone-purchasing abilities of the flutes and the tip threads. This makes initial insertion of the conical implant easier. However, the conical implant eventually requires a higher insertion torque and holding power, due to tighter bony contact, at the tail threads. The bowl-fluted design has the least flute space to store the squeezed bone chips, so both insertion torque and bending strength are significantly higher. For the conical group, the holding powers of three flute designs are nearly comparable. Overall, the conical implant with bowl flutes is the optimal design, with a lower resistance to initial insertion and higher stability, for final instrumentation.