m of aluminum oxide. Experiment on the tightening strength of 48 subjects measured in simulated conditions similar to assembly conditions of lateral screw retention implant resulted in a mean of 69.75 Nmm with the highest and lowest values of 120.67 Nmm and 34.67 Nmm. This result became the basis of tightening torque variation. Each group's retention capability is measured and compared to cement-retained dental implants. Results show that tightening torque correlates positively with retention force, with the highest average retention score showed by lateral screw retained under tightening torque of 200 Nmm with 317.87 N higher than cement-retained.
1. Introduction
Single implant restoration has become common in the dentistry field nowadays. The biological success rate of implant dentistry has the highest success rate (more than 90%) compared to other treatments to treat the loss of natural teeth [
1,
2]. However, as the most widely used type of retention in implant prostheses [
3,
4], cement-retained still faced mechanical complications that become a big issue, such as porcelain fractures, abutment fractures, and especially screw loosening [
5,
6]. A study by Dr. Elyce Link-Bindo states that about 9.3% screw loosening will occur in the 5 first years [
7]. This technical issue was why the connection between the implant and abutment should be retrievable [
8,
9]. With a retrievable connection/retention method, the internal screw of a two-piece dental implant can be easily retightened if needed.
The retrievability of cement-retained dental implants is limited. Removing the crown requires significant force, which can permanently damage the crown, abutment, internal screw, or implant itself [
10]. Although temporary cementation is relatively easy to remove because it was designed for temporary usage, most have low retention capability. A study by Veselinovic shows that the retention force of cement (both temporary and permanent) decreases after being subjected to mechanical cyclic loading, which is comparable up to 12 months of usage; this study demonstrates that temporary permanent cement retention force decreases up to 27.7% and 44.9% the initial values [
10]. Several studies have been conducted to increase temporary cement's retention level. Studies use laser etching, acid etching, sandblasting, oxygen plasma, and other surface treatment method to modify the abutment's surface in order to increase retention forces shows a positive correlation with varied results ranging from 26.4 % to 90.7 % of the increase in retention forces [
11,
12,
13]. Aside from surface treatment, several studies also analyzed the effects of geometry modification of an abutment through axial wall modification [
14,
15,
16], screw access channel modifications [
17], the addition of grooves [
18], abutment height [
19], and shape [
20]. Even though several surface treatments and geometry modifications are proven to increase retention significantly, most studies show that cement failure mode leaves residue in both implant and coping. This residue can be categorized as a rough surface to which bacteria can adhere, resulting in higher possibilities of peri-implant diseases [
21,
22,
23], making this method impractical.
Another way to develop a retrievable dental implant is by using a screw-retained dental implant, which holds a dental crown using a screw to retrieve it [
24]. Another advantage of the screw-retained type is the minimum risk of inflammation in peri-implant tissue since no cement was used in this type of connection [
1,
25]. Although this type of crown retention is already available in the market, the price, aesthetic limitations, and clinical disadvantages compared to cement-retained implants are why clinicians prefer cement-retained implants [
26,
27]. Since the screw-retained has access placed vertically, it has the disadvantage of compromising aesthetics, and because the access screw occupies at least 50% of the occlusal table, it is difficult to establish ideal occlusal contacts (clinical disadvantages) [
28,
29].
Lateral screw retention has been developed to avoid occlusal access holes. The lateral screw method can help restore the excessive angulated implant while maintaining retrievability. The Cross-pinn retained implant-supported restoration requires modifying the abutments. This method is quite complex because the procedure starts with determining the milling direction of the abutment, followed by making access through the abutment from the lingual-labial direction and tapping the abutment. This method does not require special coping or screw angulation or mention the torque required when installing the crown [
30,
31,
32]. Another way to use this type of connection is to use a prefabricated part, for example, in the Straumann implant system. In the Straumann system, specific components are required, such as abutment SynOcta TS, coping (gold or plastic coping for burnout technique), and the transversal screw. The lateral screw angle and position have been determined according to coping. However, this type of connection uses is limited in terms of availability because it requires a special abutment, laboratory procedures are very sensitive and expensive, and this type of connection can only be used exclusively by a specific dental implant brand. The similarity between the lateral screw in Straumann and the cross arch pin technique is it requires the lateral screw to go through the abutment. A study from Lasheras et al. shows that based on finite element analysis study shows that the lateral screw retained can be the choice with the lowest mechanical risk complication in abutment and abutment screw and the prosthetic screw when loads of 0° and 15° inclination forces are applied in the model [
33].
This study offers a new approach to achieving lateral screw retention using additional coping with lateral screws, which retains the dental crown mainly using friction-based retention. The set of dental implants used in this study is widely used cement-retained dental implants subjected to surface treatment of sandblasting with a variation of particle size to increase the friction coefficient of the dental abutment. Aside from that, this study also experimented with the tightening torque needed for this novel friction-based lateral screw-retained dental implant. This study aims to develop a novel friction-based lateral screw retention method with a similar retention capability to cement-retained, which has better aesthetics and occlusal condition than vertical screw retention.
4. Discussion
This study developed a novel friction-based lateral screw-retained method approach by designing a universal coping and surface treatment of an existing abutment. This approach to the novel retention method can be used on most single implant restoration with a flat surface (in this case is an anti-rotation feature for Dentium), with a simple manufacturing procedure done to the coping to give access to the lateral screw and surface treatment done to the flat surface of the abutment to increase the surface roughness. With this coping, the retrievability of screw-retained implants can be achieved at the same time. Although currently, this coping design is limited, this design structure can be further developed to provide better support. A study by Wang et al. shows that the maximum fracture resistance strength of porcelain in porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM) crowns highly depends on its metal structure substructure design [
48].
Sandblasting is done in order to increase static friction, which can lead to stronger retention achieved. Sandblasting is done to create irregularity in the titanium surface of the abutment, which increases the surface roughness [
49]. Surface roughness is related to the friction coefficient, and a higher friction coefficient could increase the retention capability of this retention method. Sandblasting was chosen because it is one of the easiest and most inexpensive methods of surface treatment [
50], which increases the possibility of this method being replicated and used around the world since it does not need any specific abutment or implant manufactured. The result of this study also demonstrates that it can be done by modifying the existing abutment's surface.
The sandblasting using variations of particle size experiment results shows a positive correlation between particle size and surface roughness. Larger particle size results in higher surface roughness of the object's surface. This correlation is similar to a study by Hasan & Abood, which also uses variations of Al
2O
3 particle sizes [
34]. In this study, the highest surface roughness was shown by SB686 T200 (0.67
0.04
m) which was also significantly higher compared to other groups (
p < 0.01), and the untreated surface of abutment (0.04
0.002
m) as the lowest surface roughness (R
a), which also significantly lower compared to other groups (
p < 0.01). However, the result also shows that groups SB102 T200 and SB254 T200 are insignificantly different compared to each other but the SB254 T200, which has a larger particle size, shows a higher average of surface roughness. The result of this experiment also shows that surface roughness mainly has a positive correlation with retention force, which confirms the positive correlation between surface roughness and static friction coefficient. Though NS groups show higher retention force compared to SB63 T200 it is insignificant, and it shows that within that surface roughness conditions, the retention is mainly affected by the tightening torque instead of friction between the lateral screw and abutment. In this study, the highest retention force was also shown by groups with the highest surface roughness (SB686 T200), and the lowest retention force was shown by both SB63 T200 and NS groups, which also have low surface roughness. A positive correlation between surface roughness and static friction open the possibility of using other surface treatment option to increase surface roughness in the abutment's flat surface, increasing the versatility of this method. Other surface treatments that can be used as a strategy to increase surface roughness are laser etching, acid etching, ion implantation, sputtering, and other combinations of several surface treatment methods, such as SLA, which combines sandblasting using large grit and acid etching [
51]. Aside from that, geometry alteration, like making a groove in an abutment, is worth trying since the study by de Campos et al. found that the surface roughness (R
a) of a grooved abutment can reach up to 8.38
m [
52]. As the SB686 T200 group shows the highest surface roughness and retention score, Al
2O
3 with a particle size of 686
m was then used as a parameter for sandblasting for retention force based on the tightening torque experiment. The result of this group was also then compared to other variations in the tightening torque experiment since the parameters are already similar.
For coping retention under different tightening torque experiments, the lowest retention was shown by the SB686 T69.75 group with 96.67
16.66 N and the highest was shown by the SB686 T200 group with force retention of 317.87 ± 21.08 N, which was significantly different (
p < 0.01). This shows that tightening torque is one of the crucial aspects to consider in which the value groups subjected to lower tightening torque show significantly lower strength than higher torque. Considering the wide range of tightening capabilities shown in the hand tightening torque experiment (lowest value in 34.67 Nmm and highest value in 120.67 Nmm), the importance of standardization for tightening torque is imminent, which could be achieved by developing tools. Study shows that current torque wrenches readily available in the market has excellent accuracy [
53,
54,
55] One of the factors is the angle at which the examiner read the torque value, with 90
being the best [
56]. One of the approaches for lateral screw-retained implant assembly in a study by Lee et al. [
57], uses lateral screwdriver with contra-angle attachment, which is easily managed within the oral cavity with 500-1000 Nmm torque, which is a lot higher compared to the highest tightening torque for this study. For this friction-based lateral screw-retained crown, using a similar lateral screwdriver with a contra-angle attachment can easily surpass this study's highest tightening torque value. It might give a more accurate value considering that different tightening torque resulted in significantly different retention forces.
Cement retained has become the benchmark/standard in this study because it has already been proven that cement retained can perform adequate retention during daily usage of dental implants. Studies show that most mechanical complications are the result of dynamic compression forces to dental implants, such as screw loosening, porcelain fractures, and abutment fractures [
5,
6,
7]. The tensile test was conducted using five samples to obtain the coping retention force from each group; the result from the cement-retained group shows an average of 155.83
19.85 N. Studies with a similar condition to calculate retention force show the difference between one and another varied by types cement, abutment used, even thickness of the cement used. A study by El-Helbawy shows the average retention force of 138.8
10.2 N for the assembly of cast coping with titanium abutment (dentist) using Temp-Bond Non-Eugenol (Kerr) as the cement [
11], another study by Reddy et al. involving three brands of cement widely available in the market shows various average retention force ranging from 138.41 N to 258.28 N [
58]. The thickness of the cement has also been shown to influence the retention of dental implant coping. A study by Abou-Obaid and Al-Khudairy comparing different cement thicknesses shows that the optimum thickness recorded in this study is 20
m, which has the highest retention force compared to groups with 35 and 50
m cement thickness, it is also demonstrated that in cement-retained dental implant, abutment height also affects retention strength, which related to the different surface area [
59].
Among the lateral screw-retained group, SB686 T200 has the highest coping retention force, followed by SB686 T120, and SB686 T69.75 as the lowest. This demonstrates that tightening torque affects coping's retention capability (positive correlation), with higher tightening torque resulting in higher coping retention force. Compared to cement-retained, the SB686 T69.75 is significantly lower (
p < 0.01). Compared to study by Nagasawa et al., the average coping retention force of SB686 T69.75, which is 96.67
16.66 N, is higher compared to 5 of 6 commercially available temporary cement tested after 7 days of seating and higher than all of them when compared to 28 days old specimens [
43]. The coping retention force of cement-retained compared to SB686 T120 is insignificantly different, which shows that with the right tightening torque, the retention performance of friction-based lateral screw retained is comparable to various cement-retained groups. Compared to SB686 T200, the coping retention force of cement-retained is significantly lower (
p < 0.01).
There are no known standards regarding the retention force of dental implant coping. However, there are studies regarding the pull-out strength of dental implants. One of them is a study by Seong et al. investigating the pull-out strength of a dental implant implanted in a rabbit tibia for 1 to 12 weeks of healing time shows that healing time affects pull-out strength, which is similar to human bone [
60], it shows that after one week the pull-out force is 187.9
69.2 N. After twelve weeks, the pull-out force shows 351.8
69.2 N, and this value is also shown in a study by Oliscovicz et al. for pull-out force on Synbone, which simulates the artificial bone of the human femur [
61]. The pull-out force shown in both studies shows a value close to SB686 T200, demonstrating that based on pull-out force setup conditions (sandblasting and tightening torque) for SB686T200 groups shows promising results since it is expected that dental crown has lower pull-out force compared to dental implant in a failure condition.
The lateral screw retained failure mode shows tracks from friction between the lateral screw and the abutment's surface, but the overall abutment did not show any damage. As shown in previous studies, the assembly and failure mode of cement-retained leaves residue in abutment and coping, which could result in peri-implantitis diseases [
21,
22,
23]. he failure mode in lateral screw needs further investigations to understand whether its condition after failure affects the retention capability, as the surface roughness may decrease due to friction between the screw and the abutment's surface. If this type of failure affects retention performance, then the abutment needs to be replaced or re-sandblasted, and since there is no damage done to the overall abutment, it can just be removed without any further disturbance to the implant and surrounding bones. This phenomenon also needs to be one of the considerations of using a one-piece implant for friction-based later screw-retained dental crowns since any damage done to the abutment area may need further invasive surgery.
This study has its limitations regarding sample size, available abutment type, and surface treatment procedure performed. But it shows the prospect of friction-based lateral screw retention being one of the methods to gain the advantage of cement and screw retention, which is easy to replicate and use with limited resources.
5. Conclusions
Within the limitation of this study, conducted tests show the potential of a novel friction-based lateral screw retention method. The coping design in this study combined the advantage of the cement-retained and vertical screw retention method. This design gives an ideal occlusal advantage, better aesthetics, and is retrievable. This study shows that particle size positively correlates with surface roughness in the sandblasting process of titanium dental abutments. Aside from that, surface roughness was also found to be a critical factor that positively correlates with retention force. Sandblasting on titanium dental abutments using Al2O3 with 686m particle size (highest particle size used in this study) under 0.3 MPa pressure from a 10 mm distance in 10 seconds resulted in the highest surface roughness (Ra) with 0.67 0.04 m and retention force with 317.87 ± 21.08 N, in which this sandblasting condition then used in the following experiment as the standard sandblasting condition.
In order to understand the human capability to produce tightening torque for this novel friction-based lateral screw retention, an experiment was conducted under simulated conditions. The jig with a 40.5 mm mouth opening and condition similar to lateral skew tightening in the second molar shows an average of 69.75 Nmm with a standard deviation of 22.91 Nmm.
Using sandblasting parameters and considering variations of tightening torque from the previous experiment, the novel friction-based lateral screw retention was tested under variations of tightening torque, namely 69.75, 120, and 200 Nmm. The result of this experiment is promising for the possibility of this novel crown retention method. The retention force of SB686 T69.75 gives the lowest value of 96.67 16.66 N which significantly lower compared to CR groups (p < 0.01). SB686 T120 average in 158.48 23.37 N, which is insignificantly different compared to CR with 155.83 19.85 N. Lastly, SB686 T200 shows a significantly higher result in 317.87 ± 21.08 N compared to CR (p < 0.01). This phenomenon, combined with the tightening capability of this study's subject, proved that tightening torque can have a significant impact on coping retention in this method.
Even though the result of this study shows it can be one of the solutions in today's crown retention method, there is still much room for improvement and study that needs to be conducted to explore the full potential of this novel retention method.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, S.S., Y.W., T.M., R.S.D., and L.S.K.; methodology, T.M., P.R.M., and R.A.U.; formal analysis, S.S., T.M., P.R.M., and R.A.U; data curation, T.M., P.R.M., and R.A.U.; writing—original draft preparation, T.M., and R.A.U.; writing—review and editing, S.S., T.M., and R.A.U.; visualization, R.A.U.; supervision, S.S., Y.W., T.M., R.S.D., and L.S.K. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.