The Effect of Lubricant on the Detorque Force of Locator/Kerator Abutment in Overdenture Patients: A Pilot Clinical Study

TL;DR

This pilot study found that using a lubricant significantly increases the detorque force of implant abutments in overdenture patients after six months.

Contribution

The study demonstrates that tetracycline eye ointment can be used as an effective lubricant to enhance abutment screw retention in implant overdentures.

Findings

Lubricated abutments had a significantly higher detorque force (16.35 N.cm) compared to non-lubricated ones (13.4 N.cm).

Detorque force differences were not significant between male and female patients.

Age had no significant correlation with detorque force.

Abstract

Despite the implants' remarkable success, mechanical failure of implant-abutment screws is a challenge for clinicians. Among the types of mechanical failures, abutment screw loosening is still frequently reported in the literature.

The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of using lubricant on the detorque force (removal force) of locator/kerator abutment in overdenture patients after 6 months of clinical usage.

This pilot clinical study examined the detorque force of implants in 20 edentulous patients with two mandibular implants
positioned between the mental foramen. The patients underwent the fabrication of a complete maxillary prosthesis and mandibular
overdenture. Before loading attachments in the delivery session, healing abutments were removed, and implant interiors dried,
randomly some fixtures received a tetracycline eye ointment 1% lubricant, while the others remained non-lubricated.
Abutments were secured with prescribed torque according to implant system guidelines (20 N.cm). After 6 months,
detorque forces for the abutment locators were measured using a torque meter. Descriptive statistics, mean comparison,
and Pearson correlation were performed on the obtained data.
A significant level of p Value<0.05 was considered in the present study.

The mean detorque force was 13.4±1.94 in the non-lubricated group and 16.35± 1.24 in the lubricated group, which was significantly
higher in the lubricated group (p< 0.001). Other results of the study include the non-significance of the difference
in detorque force within male and female groups (p> 0.05), as well as the non-significance of Pearson's correlation
between patients' age and detorque force (p> 0.05).

According to the results, the use of lubricant significantly increases the detorque force, and it is recommended to use tetracycline eye ointment as a lubricant in implant treatment processes.

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