• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.767-780
• /
• 1997

One of the most common problems of implant prosthesis is the screw loosening of abutment screws. This brings on discomfort in mastication, inflammation in the peri-implant tissue due to poor oral hygiene and fracture of prosthesis or loss of osseointegration. To prevent screw loosening, appropriate implantation to direct the occlusal force to the long axis of the implant, accurate design of the superstructure, decrease of the occlusal table, and adequate torque on the abutment screw are necessary. In this study the screw loosening torque was evaluated in implants with dimples or flutes in the internal surface of abutment screw holes. The abutments were fastened with slot type and hexagonal type abutment screws and were sealed with vinyl poly siloxane impression and bite registration material respectively. The screw loosening torque was evaluated after 1,800 and 12,600 times loading under a loading machine. The results were as follows. 1. The flute form group showed significantly higher loosening torque compared to the dimple form group and the group with no inner surface treatment (p<0.05). 2. There was no statistical difference in loosening torque according to the sealing materials. 3. The loosening torque according to the types of abutment screw showed no significant difference. 4. The loosening torque was significantly higher after 1800 times loading compared to 12600 times loading(p<0.05). From the above results. it is thought that formation of a flute in the internal surface of the screw hole decreases the chance of screw loosening, but the sealing materials and types of abutment screw did not show significant difference in prevention of screw loosening.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.136-143
• /
• 2021

This paper presents the loosening behavior that occurs after the application of an external load to internal and external connection types of dental implants using the finite element method. We use fastening force between an abutment and a fixture to clamp the dental implant system; however, loosening and breakage may occur owing to cyclic external loads. In this study, we considered the initial fastening condition in the pre-load analysis and then investigated the change in stress and contact surface status when applying external loads. After the application of the initial fastening load, we verified that the internal connection-type model exhibited a relatively lower stress distribution than that of the external connection-type one. Moreover, we found that the former model showed a lower stress concentration after the application of the external load. In addition, after the application of this load, we found that the higher the shear load acting on the implant system, the higher the possibility of loosening. The study results showed the change in stress distribution and contact surface according to the connection type of the dental implants and the phenomenon of loosening by cyclic loads. We expect that the results of this study will be useful for the study of reliability and design of dental implant systems.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.210-225
• /
• 2004

Statement of problem: Implant screw loosening has been remained problem in restorative practices. Surface treatment of screw plays a role of preventing screw from loosening in implant screw mechanism. Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate surface characteristics of TiN and ZrN film ion plated screw with titanium and gold alloy screw and to evaluate wear resistance, surface roughness, and film adhesion on screw surface using various instruments. Material and methods : GoldTite screws and titanium screws provided by 3i (Implant Innovation, USA) and TorqTite screws or titanium screws by Steri-Oss (Nobel Biocare, USA) and gold screws and titanium screws by AVANA (Osstem Implant, korea) were selected. Ion plating which is much superior to other surface modification techniques was carried out for gold screws and titanium screws using Ti and Zr coating materials with nitrogen gas. Ion nitrided surface of each abutment screw was observed with field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM, micro-diamond scratch tester, vickers hardness tester, and surface roughness tester. Results : 1) The surface of gold screw and GoldTite is more smooth than ones of other kinds of non coated screw. 2) The ZrN and TiN coated surface is the more smooth than ones of other kinds of screw. 3) The hardness of TiN and ZrN coated surface showed higher than that of non coated surface. 4) The TiN coated titanium screw and ZrN coated gold screw have a good wear resistance and adhesion on the surface. 5) The surface of ZrN coated screw showed low surface roughness compared with the surface of TiN coated screw. Conclusion : It is considered that the TiN and ZrN coated screw which would prevent a screw from loosening can be applicable to implant system and confirmed that TiN and ZrN film act as lubricant on surface of screw due to decrease of friction for recycled tightening and loosening.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.67 no.10
• /
• pp.1375-1381
• /
• 2018

In this paper, we studied coatings of the DLC thin film for improving loosening torque of dental implant screw. We used a filtered arc ion plating process which can realize the most dense DLC layer by coating the DLC thin film on the surface of the dental abutment screw. It showed both hardness comparable to diamond and low friction coefficient similar to graphite, and to improve the loosening phenomenon by increasing the screw tightening force Cr/CrN, Ti/TiN or Ti/TiN/Cr/CrN buffer layers were deposited for 5 to 10 minutes to improve the adhesion of the DLC thin film to the surface of the Ti (Gr.5), and then the DLC thin film was coated for about 15 minutes. As a result, the Cr/CrN buffer layer exhibited the highest hardness of 29.7 GPa, the adhesion of 18.62N on average, and a very low coefficient of friction of less than 0.2 as a whole. And we measured loosening torque after one million times with masticatory movement simulator. As a result, the values of the coated screw loosening torque were clearly higher than those of the uncoated screw. From this, it was found that the DLC coating was effective methods improving the loosening torque. In addition, it was confirmed that the cytotoxicity test and cell adhesion test showed high biocompatibility.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.351-359
• /
• 2003

Statement of problem: Regardless of any restoration, most of case, we used in screw connection between abutment and implant. For this reason, implant screw loosening has been remained problem in restorative practices. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare surface of coated/plated screw with titanium and gold alloy screw and to evaluate physical property of coated/plated material after scratch test in FESEM investigation Material and methods: GoldTite, titanium screw provided by 3i (Implant Innovation, USA) and TorqTite, titanium screw by Steri-Oss (Nobel Biocare, USA) and gold screw, titanium screw by AVANA (Osstem Implant, korea) - were selected for this study. Each abutment screw surface was observed at 100 times, and then screw crest, root, and slope were done more detailed numerical value, at 1000 times with FESEM. A micro-diamond needle was also prepared for the scratch test. Each abutment screw was fixed, micro-diamond scratch the surface of head region was made at constant load and then was observed central region and periphery of fine trace through 1000 times with FESEM. Results: The surface of GoldTite was smoother than that of other kinds of screw and had abundant ductility and malleability compared with titanium and gold screw. The scratch test also showed that teflon particles were exfoliated easily in screw coated with teflon. Titanium screw had a rough surface and low ductility. Conclusion: It was recommended that the clinical use of gold-plated screw would prevent a screw from loosening. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Clinical use of gold-plated screw would prevent a screw from loosening because it had abundant ductility and malleability compared with titanium and gold screw.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.519-526
• /
• 2001

At present. about 0.3 million and more THRs (Total Hip Replacement) in a rear are being done worldwide. The increase in mechanical failure with the increase in THR, required more revisions. Revisions compensate mainly the wear of the artificial joint frictional surface and the loosening of the cup and stem. According to recent researches, loosening is mainly due to wear debris UHMWPE (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) from frictional surfaces . To overcome the wear problems associated with artificial joint materials , new surface structures with regular Patterns were designed and fabricated The lubrication Properties were examined to evaluate the wear of the frictional surfaces. The surface structure manifested a Pattern of "dents" with a 0.2-1.0 mm of diameter and 0.6-2.0 mm of Pitch. From the friction test of the SUS316L vs UHMWPE using the frictional tester, we found that the lubrication Performance was improved due to of drastically reduced amount of abrasion. There were optimum sizes for the diameter and the pitch of the Pattern. The results demonstrated that the lubrication properties could be improved by Patterning of the frictional surfaces. The surface Patterning was effective in preventing wear of the frictional surfaces, and the life of an artificial joint could be extended with such Patterning.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.281-294
• /
• 2015

Bolted joint connection is the most commonly used connection element in structures and devices. The loosening due to external dynamic loads cannot be observed and measured easily and may cause catastrophic loss especially in an extreme requirement and/or environment. In this paper, an innovative Real-time Cross-Correlation Method (RCCM) for monitoring of the bolted joint loosening was proposed. We apply time reversal process on stress wave propagation to obtain correlation signal. The correlation signal's peak amplitude represents the cross-correlation between the loosening state and the baseline working state; therefore, it can detect the state of loosening. Since the bolt states are uncorrelated with noise, the peak amplitude will not be affected by noise and disturbance while it increases SNR level and increases the measured signals' reliability. The correlation process is carried out online through physical wave propagation without any other post offline complicated analyses and calculations. We implemented the proposed RCCM on a single bolt/nut joint experimental device to quantitatively detect the loosening states successfully. After that we implemented the proposed method on a real large structure (reaction wall) with multiple bolted joint connections. Loosening indexes were built for both experiments to indicate the loosening states. Finally, we demonstrated the proposed method's great anti-noise and/or disturbance ability. In the instrumentation, we simply mounted Lead Zirconium Titanate (PZT) patches on the device/structure surface without any modifications of the bolted connection. The low-cost PZTs used as actuators and sensors for active sensing are easily extended to a sensing network for large scale bolted joint network monitoring.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
• /
• v.44 no.6
• /
• pp.740-750
• /
• 2006

Statement of problems. In an attempt to reduce screw loosening, dry lubricant coatings such as pure gold or tefron have been applied to the abutment screw. However, under repeated tightening and loosening procedures, low wear resistance and adhesion strength of coating material produced free particles on the surface of abutment screw and increased frictional resistance resulting in screw tightening problems. Purpose. The aim of this study was to compare friction coefficient, adhesion strength, vickers hardness and evaluate coating surface of titanium alloy specimens coated with TiN(titanium nitride), ZrN(zirconium nitride) and WC(tungsten carbide). Material and method. Titanium alloy(Ti-6Al-4V) discs of 12mm in diameter and 1mm in thickness divided into 4 groups. TiN, ZrN and WC was coated for the specimens of 3 groups respectively, and those of 1 group were not coated. Each group was made up of 4 specimens. In this study, sputtering method was used among the PVD(Physical Vapor Deposition) techniques available for TiN, ZrN and WC coatings. Friction coefficient, adhesion strength, vickers hardness and coating surface of 4 groups were measured. Results. 1. For all three coating conditions, friction coefficient was significantly decreased. Especially, ZrN coated surface showed the lowest value. $TiN(0.39{\pm}0.02)$, $ZrN(0.24{\pm}0.01)$, $WC(0.31{\pm}0.03)$. 2. TiN coating showed the highest adhesion strength, however ZrN coating had the lowest value. $TiN(25.3N{\pm}1.6)$, $ZrN(14.8N{\pm}0.6)$, $ WC(18.4N{\pm}0.7)$. 3. Vickers hardness of all three coatings was remarkably increased as compared with that of none coated specimen. TiN coating had the highest Vickers hardness, however WC coating showed the lowest value. $TiN(1865.2{\pm}33.8)$, $ZrN(1814.4{\pm}18.6)$, $WC(1008.5{\pm}35.9)$. 4. The ZrN or WC coated specimen showed a homogeneous and smooth surface, however the rough surface with defects was observed for TiN coating. Conclusions. When TiN, ZrN and WC coating applied to the abutment screw, frictional resistance would be reduced, as a result, the greater preload and prevention of the screw loosening could be expected.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.1-5
• /
• 2003

By using an approach developed to determine the torque-tension relationship for bolted joints, frictional properties of several typical bolted joints were studied experimentally. The specific property by bolted joints certify that the most significant influence of materials and bearing surface condition. Experiments on thread friction shows that prevailing torque nuts with distorted threads provide benefit for preventing self-loosening of the nut. Repeated tightening-loosening generally increases frictions in a bolted joint. It was noted that the data scatter of the experimental results of frictions in a belted joint may overshadow the influence of size. speed, and contact positions. The results from the experimental investigation will help to better design bolted joints.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.246-261
• /
• 2002

The screw loosening is one of the complications that happen frequently in dental implant prostheses. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the changes of reverse/loosening (opening) torque of the screw according to the surface modifications by sandblasting and 24K gold electroplating as well as to determine the possibility of the clinical use of a washer in dental implant. The reverse torque of 4 experimental conditions(control, sandblasted, use of washers, electroplasted) was measured by digital torque gauge (Model MGT50Z, Mark-10 Corp., 458 West John Street Hicksville, NY 11801 USA). Electronic torque controller (Nobel Biocare DEA 020) was used in fastening the gold screws into abutment replicas. Mixed Linear Model Analysis method was used for statistical analysis. To examine the changes of screw thread surface, microphotographs were taken by Olympus PME-3 metallurgic microscope (Olympus Optical Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan). Within the limitations of this study, the following results were drawn: 1. The surface modifications of the gold screws and the use of a washer have significantly affected the reverse torque value compared to the control group (P<0.01). 2. Sandblasting and electroplating treatments demonstrated significantly higher reverse torque value than that of control group. 3. The use of a washer may be one of the useful clinical methods that prevent the screw loosening. However, further studies are necessary for the material selection and design of the washer.