Thermal Necrosis Assisted Dental Implant Removal: A 3-Dimensional Finite Element Analysis
Abstract
A 3-dimension (3D) model of a mandibular section of the bone was used to investigate the optimal contact area required to remove a dental implant via thermal necrosis using a 3-dimensional finite element method. The model includes cortical bone, cancellous bone, Straumann dental implant, and the crown was created using Dassault Systèmes CATIA V6® product lifecycle management software. Four different contact areas were analyzed by supplying power of 5, 24, and 40 W. At 5 W, the implant temperature is indeterminable for all the three implants considered - Ti6Al4V, titanium dioxide, and zirconia. The results of this investigation showed that increasing the diameter of the contact area not only reduced the time it took for the implant to reach 47°C but also dissipated heat evenly.