Development of a new sealing-type abutment for improving contact state between the abutment and the fixture

When repeating chewing force is applied to the dental implant, gap is often generated at the interface surface between the abutment and the fixture, and results in some deteriorations such as loosening of fastening screw, dental retraction and fixture fracture. To cope with such problems, this study focuses on the design of the interface surface shape of the abutment, and proposes a new sealing-type abutment so as to have a number of grooves along the conical-surface circumference. To show the effectiveness of the proposed method, a number of simulations are carried out by a finite element method in consideration of external chewing force and pretention between the abutment and the fixture. The simulation result shows that the proposed sealing-type abutment shows a better sealing effect than a conventional one.