Evaluation of Optimal Taper of Immediately Loaded Wide-Diameter Implants: A Finite Element Analysis

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different tapering angles of an immediately loaded wide-diameter implant on the stress/strain distribution in bone and implant after implant insertion in healed or fresh molar extraction sockets. A total of 10 finite element (FE) implant-bone models, including 8.1-mm diameter implant, superstructure, and mandibular molar segment, were created to investigate the biomechanical behavior of different implant taper angles in immediate and delayed placement conditions. The degrees of implant taper ranged from 2° to 14°, and the contact conditions between the immediately loaded implants and bone were set with frictional coefficients (μ) of 0.3 in the healed models and 0.1 in the extracted models. Vertical and lateral loading forces of 189.5 N were applied in all models. Regardless of the degree of implant tapering, immediate loading of wide-diameter implants placed in molar extraction sockets generated higher stress/strain levels than implants placed in healed sockets....