Evaluation of Temperature Changes at the Implant-bone Interface during Splinting of Impression Coping with Auto Polymerizing Resin: An In vitro Study

Abstract Background and Objectives: In this study the temperature changes at the implant bone interface were studied. This was done to mimic splinting of the implant copings in real life situations. This was done with two different auto-polymerizing resins on two implants of differing sizes each. The results were evaluated to find out if it crosses the threshold temperature for bone damage. Aim: This study was done to examine whether the temperature changes occurring at the implant-bone interface during splinting of impression copings is significant enough to cause bone damage. Method: Two implants of size 3.5×10mm and 4.2×10mm (Adin Dental Implant System, Israel) were placed in bovine bone fragments. Access holes were prepared on the apical and cervical aspects of the implant through the bone. The two resins used were Denture Repair Resin (DPI Cold Cure, DPI, Mumbai, India) and GC Pattern Resin (GC Corp., Japan) to mimic splinting the implant. Open tray copings (Adin Dental Implant System, Israel) were fixed on the implants. The auto-polymerizing resin was loaded onto the copings using custom fabricated plastic cylinders. Results: Results showed that the highest peak temperature observed was at the cervical region, while using denture repair resin on 3.5×10mm implant. Additionally, it was noted that the lowest peak temperature was recorded at the apical region of the 4.2×10mm implant while using pattern resin. It was also observed that the pattern resin took the shortest time to reach baseline value. As expected, the peak temperature noted at the apical region of 4.2×10mm implant was lower than that of the temperature observed for 3.5×10mm implant when either splinting materials were used. Interpretation and Conclusion: There is significant temperature change at the apical and cervical portions of implants when splinting is mimicked. The cervical temperature was found to be higher than the apical aspect of the implant in every group. The temperature change at the apical portions of the shorter implants are higher than that of longer implants. Pattern resin produces lesser exothermic heat than denture repair resin so, it is preferable to employ pattern resin for the splinting of implants. The use of coolants can be helpful to minimize the temperature change at the implant bone interface. Pattern resin dissipates heat more faster than Denture repair resin.