Effect of microthreads on coronal bone healing of narrow-diameter implants with reverse-tapered design in beagle dogs

Abstract

Objectives

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of microthreads on the coronal bone healing of narrow-diameter implants with reverse-tapered design.

Material and Methods

A total of 52 implants were classified into two groups according to presence or absence of coronal microthreads, the reverse-tapered narrow-diameter implant (RTN) group, and the reverse-tapered narrow-diameter implant with microthreads (RTNM) group. The implants were installed in split-mouth design in the edentulous mandible of six dogs. Three animals were sacrificed at 4 weeks and three at 8 weeks. Resonance frequency analysis, bone measurement using microcomputed tomography (micro-CT), removal torque test, and histometric analysis were performed.

Results

No significant differences in implant stability quotient value were observed between the groups at baseline, 4 weeks, or 8 weeks. Bone measurement using micro-CT showed that bone–implant contact volume (BICV) and bone–implant contact volume ratio (BICVR) in the coronal part of RTNM were statistically higher than those in RTN at 4 and 8 weeks. Histometric analysis showed statistically higher bone–implant contact length (BICL) in the coronal part of RTNM than in RTN at 4 weeks; however, bone–implant contact ratio (BICR) was not significantly different between the groups. At 8 weeks, the BICL and BICR did not differ significantly between the groups. Removal torque test showed no significant differences between the groups at 4 and 8 weeks.

Conclusions

The microthreads might facilitate more coronal bone–implant contact due to increased surface areas at an early healing phase; however, they did not significantly affect coronal bone healing at 8 weeks.

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