Journal of Prosthodontics News
Accuracy of Torque Controllers on Healing Abutments in Implant Dentistry
Now online in the Journal of Prosthodontics, an in vitro study of torque controllers authored by Varun Goyal, DDS, Rafael Delgado-Ruiz, DDS, MSc, PhD, Kenneth S. Kurtz, DDS, and Georgios E. Romanos, DDS, PhD, Prof Dr med dent.
When placing implant restorations, precise torque values are a prerequisite to achieving the correct preload. Clinicians can tighten the healing abutments with hand drivers or by using torque controllers.
There can be large variability between clinicians applying hand torque to healing abutments, therefore, to attain precise torque values, the use of torque controllers (or torque limiting devices) is recommended to tighten healing abutments.
In this study, three torque control devices (Ankylos friction-based, Straumann spring-based, and Anthogyr pre-calibrated) were used to tighten the healing abutments of Ankylos and Straumann dental implants to a pre-determined value of 15 Ncm. After the healing abutments were tightened to their respective implants, the removal torque was evaluated with a digital torque meter.
All the torque-controlling devices registered a value of 15 Ncm applied to the healing abutments. However, inconsistent torque values (either higher or lower) were registered when removal torque was applied.
Results of the study showed that torque values for all the systems (spring-based, friction-based, and pre-calibrated) provided values higher or lower than 15 Ncm. The discrepancies between the torque reference value (15 Ncm) and the torque values achieved by the different torque controllers used in this study ranged between 2.1 Ncm for the Ankylos system, 3.7 Ncm for Anthogyr, and 3.5 Ncm for Straumann. The impact of these discrepancies is unknown, and clinicians should be aware of their existence.
Goyal, V, Delgado-Ruiz, R, Kurtz, KS, Romanos, GE. Accuracy of torque controllers on healing abutments in implant dentistry—an in vitro study. J Prosthodont. 2023; 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopr.13745
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