Stress-absorbing elements in dental implants.

By means of finite element analysis, calculations, were made of the stress-distribution in bone around implants with and without stress-absorbing elements. A freestanding implant and an implant, it was concluded the variation in the E-modulus of the stress-absorbing element had no effect on the stresses in bone. Changing the shape of the stress-absorbing element had little effect on the stresses in cortical bone. For the implant connected with a natural tooth, it was concluded that a more uniform stress was obtained around the implant with a low E-modulus of the stress-absorbing element. It was also concluded that the bone surrounding the natural tooth showed a decrease in the height of the peak stresses.