Elasticity of alveolar bone near dental implant–bone interfaces after one month's healing

Information is scarce about Young's modulus of healing bone surrounding an implant. The purpose of this preliminary study is to quantify elastic properties of pig alveolar bone that has healed for 1 month around titanium threaded dental implants, using the nanoindentation method. Two 2-year-old Sinclair miniswine were used for the study. Nanoindentation tests perpendicular to the bucco-lingual cross section were performed on harvested implant–bone blocks using the Hysitron TriboScope III. Nomarski differential interference contrast microscopy was used to identify pyramidal indentation measurements that were from bone. Reduced moduli, averaged for all anatomical regions, were found to start low (6.17 GPa) at the interface and gradually increase (slope=0.014) to a distance of 150 μm (7.89 GPa) from the implant surface, and then flatten to a slope of 0.001 from 150 to 1500 μm (10.13 GPa). Mean reduced modulus and its relationship to distance did not differ significantly by anatomic location (e.g., coronal, middle, and apical third; P⩾0.28 for all relevant tests) at 1 month after implantation.