Sacrificial Screw Dental Prosthesis for Bone Stress Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Dental implants face challenges due to limited bone volume, leading to increased risk of implant failure from bending forces and stress on marginal bone, particularly with short implants, which can result in adverse biomechanical effects and complications such as marginal bone loss and peri-implant issues.
Innovation Solution
A dental prosthesis system with a mechanical weakness, utilizing a sacrificial prosthetic screw that fractures or deforms under excessive masticatory forces, protecting the bone tissue by distributing stress below the bone's yield strength, while allowing for cost-effective replacement and maintaining biomechanical stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If short implants are used to overcome limited bone volume, then the need for complex bone grafting procedures is eliminated, but the crown-to-implant ratio is compromised and bending forces increase
Solution Approach 1:
The prosthesis is divided into two separate parts: a first prosthetic part that connects directly to the implants and a second prosthetic part that replaces the missing crowns. This segmentation allows the connection interface to be optimized independently from the crown portion, enabling a more favorable crown-to-implant ratio while maintaining the use of short implants.
Solution Approach 2:
A sacrificial screw acts as an intermediary element between the first and second prosthetic parts. This sacrificial screw is designed to fracture or deform under excessive loading, serving as a mechanical fuse that protects the implants and bone from damaging bending forces while allowing the prosthesis to function normally under physiological loads.
2Shape
If cemented prosthesis are used to achieve better aesthetic outcome, then screw access is eliminated, but prosthesis retrievability is compromised and excess cement causes peri-implant problems
Solution Approach 1:
The connection between the first and second prosthetic parts is designed to be dynamically adjustable. The sacrificial screw provides a fixed connection during normal function, but can be intentionally fractured or removed to allow prosthesis retrieval or replacement, offering both aesthetic benefits and repairability.
Solution Approach 2:
The sacrificial screw is designed as a disposable or replaceable component with limited service life. It is intended to be fractured or replaced periodically to maintain prosthesis functionality and allow retrieval, eliminating the need for permanent cementation while preserving aesthetic appearance.
3Ease of repair
If angled abutments or dynamic abutments are used to allow screw retained solution, then retrievability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The complex angled or dynamic abutment systems are eliminated entirely. Instead, the prosthesis uses simple straight screw channels that connect directly through the prosthetic parts, removing the need for intermediate angled components while maintaining retrievability through the sacrificial screw mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
A dental prosthesis system, for the use with at least two dental implants, wherein the dental prosthesis is divided in a first prosthetic part and a second prosthetic part, jointed by a prosthetic screw, and wherein the first prosthetic part is connected to the dental implants through at least two connectors, and such dental prosthesis has an engaging and guidance system, including two female elements, disposed on the top of the first prosthetic part, and two corresponding male elements, disposed on the bottom of the second prosthetic part, whereby the connection between the two female elements and the two male elements is releasable.