Abstract
The mastication simulator was developed to reproduce the bi-axial cyclic loading condition of in vivo dental implants in the laboratory experiment, and used in this study to evaluate the effect of the mastication loading on the retentive force of the temporary cement for cement-retained implant restoration. The in vivo loadings on the dental implant exerted by the typical mastication kinematics were evaluated by implanting a measuring dental crown coupled with strain gages to a male volunteer. Subsequently, the loading condition in the mastication simulator test was compared to results of the in vivo measurement to examine the validity of the mastication simulator. The in vivo measurement revealed that the dental implant was exposed to dynamic axial loading and simultaneously dynamic bending moment during the masticating motion and the loading condition in the mastication simulator was relatively close to the grinding condition. The results of this study indicated that the retentive force of the temporary cement was gradually degraded by applying the mastication loading. Therefore, the degradation behavior of the temporary cementation should be examined prior to the operation to ensure the crown retention.
