A noninvasive approach for the assessment of dental implants stability

Abstract

We propose the Electromechanical Impedance (EMI) technique to monitor the stability of dental implants. The technique consists of bonding one wafer-type piezoelectric transducers to the implant system. When subjected to an electric field, the transducer induces structural excitations which, in turn, affect the transducer’s electrical admittance. The hypothesis is that the health of the bone surrounding the implant affects the sensor’s admittance. In this paper we present the results of an experiment where a sensor is bonded to an abutment screwed to implants secured into bovine bone samples. The results show that the EMI technique can be used to monitor the stability of dental implants although more research is warranted to examine the repeatability of the results and the advantage with respect to existing commercial systems.