Removal Torque Values of Retaining Screws Tightened to Implant-Supported Prosthesis with Different Connection Systems by Various Tightening Technique

As implant treatment has become popular, lots of different shapes and materials of the implant upper component have been supplied. And there are also diverse reports about failures including loosening of the abutment screw which is one of the most common reason. Purpose : The purpose of this study is to find out how different screw tightening orders and methods influence on screw loosening according to the different connection systems. The upper component was fabricated by casting method. After fabricating master models that are precisely attached to the upper component, 5 experimental models each for the external connection system and internal connection system were fabricated using splinting impression technique. First, to find out the influence of the screw tightening order, screws were tightened in 3 orders; 1-2-3-4, 2-3-1-4, 2-4-3-1. After tightening, removal torque values (RTV) of each group was measured. And also to find out the influence of screw tightening method, a model with 2-3-1-4 screw tightening order was tightened with 30 Ncm at one time(1-step method) and the RTV was compared with the same order group (2-3-1-4) in the 2 step method. In the external connection system, RTV appeared significantly lower in group 2-3-1-4 than group 2-4-3-1 (p