Dental implants can fail......

Contrary to the common naive feeling of clinical dentists, it so happens that dental implants can also fracture. This is a very unpleasant event which necessitates a surgical extraction procedure. So far, the most part of reserach on dental implants has been emphasizing biological failures and biocompatibility related issues. Mechanical aspects of implant design have been touched upon and a lot of work has been done on the surface condition of the implants to allow optimal osseo-integration. Those are all central clinical issues. Yet, mechanics can contribute addiitonal information and help in designing more mechanically reliable implants. For that the first step is a detailed failure analysis......