Evaluation of axial displacement and torque loss of Morse-type prosthetic abutments of different angular tapers to their respective implants.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM The biomechanical stability of the implant-prosthesis assembly and its maintenance under function is a determining factor in the success of implant prosthesis rehabilitation, but studies of different angular tapers are lacking. PURPOSE The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the axial displacement and torque loss of prosthetic abutments with Morse-type connections of different angular tapers after thermomechanical cycling by using microcomputed tomography (µCT) and a digital torque wrench. MATERIAL AND METHODS Eighteen Ø3.5×11.5-mm implants were embedded in polyvinyl chloride cylinders, and the 3 different types of abutments (n=6) with angular tapers of 11.5 degrees - Alvim Cone Morse (ACM-11.5), 16.0 degrees - Helix Gran Morse (HGM-16), and 24.0 degrees - Nobel Replace Conical Connection (NRC-24) were installed with the torque recommended by the manufacturers. To calculate the axial displacements of the abutments about the implants, zirconia maxillary canine crowns were fabricated using a computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) system and cemented onto the abutments. Before and after thermomechanical cycling, the assemblies were scanned using microtomography (micro-CT) to assess axial displacement, and the torque losses were calculated after the abutments were finally unscrewed. A load of 100 N, frequency of 2 Hz, and 106 cycles with temperature variation of 5 °C to 55 °C were used for the thermomechanical cycling. Analysis of variance and the Tukey post hoc test (α=.05) were used for analysis. RESULTS A significant difference was observed between the abutments for axial displacement, measured after thermomechanical cycling (P=.002). The ACM-11.5 abutment showed the highest mean value (134.1 ±58.7 µm), different from HGM-16 (63.3 ±26.1 µm) (P=.013) and NRC-24 (42.7 ±8.7 µm) (P=.002); the 2 latter groups were similar to each other (P=.618). For the torque losses, no significant difference was found among the abutments (P=.928), but there were significant differences for the thermomechanical cycling (before and after) (P<.001) in that the loss of torque was greater after thermocycling. CONCLUSIONS The smaller the taper angle of the Morse-type prosthetic abutment, the greater its axial displacement, and the thermomechanical cycling significantly reduced pretorque, regardless of taper.