RÉSUMÉ
PURPOSE: To evaluate the axial displacement of implant-abutment assembly after cyclic loading in internal tapered connection system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: External butt-joint connection implant and internal tapered connection implant were connected with three types of abutment for cement-retained prostheses, i.e. external type abutment (Ext group), internal tapered 1-piece abutment (Int-1 group), and internal tapered 2-piece abutment (Int-2 group). For each group, 7 implants and abutments were used. The implantabutments assemblies were clamped into the implant holder for vertical loads. A dynamic cyclic loading was applied for 150 +/- 10 N at a frequency of 4 Hz. The amount of axial displacement of the abutment into the implant was calculated at each cycle of 0, 5, 10, 50, 100, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000. A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the overall effect of cyclic loading and the pattern analysis by linear mixed model were used for statistical analysis. Differences at P<.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean axial displacement after 10,000 cycles were 0.714 +/- 0.488 microm in Ext group, 5.286 +/- 1.604 microm in Int-1 group, and 11.429 +/- 1.902 microm in Int-2 group. In the pattern analysis, Int-1 and Int-2 group showed continuous axial displacement at 10,000 cycles. There was no declining pattern of axial displacement in the Ext group. CONCLUSION: The pattern of linear mixed model in Ext group showed no axial displacement. There were continuous axial displacements in abutment-implant assemblies in the Int-1 and Int-2 group at 10,000 cycles. More axial displacement was found in Int-2 group than in Int-1 group.