Microdamage of the cortical bone during mini-implant insertion with self-drilling and self-tapping techniques: A randomized controlled trial

IntroductionThe purpose of this research was to evaluate microdamage accumulation after mini-implant placement by self-drilling (without a pilot hole) and self-tapping (screwed into a pilot hole) insertion techniques. The null hypothesis was that the mini-implant insertion technique would have no influence on microcrack accumulation and propagation in the cortical bones of the maxillae and mandibles of adult hounds.MethodsMini-implants (n = 162; diameter, 1.6 mm; length, 6 mm) were placed in the maxillae and mandibles of 9 hounds (12-14 months old) with self-drilling and self-tapping insertion techniques. The techniques were randomly assigned to the left or the right side of each jaw. Each hound received 18 mini-implants (10 in the mandible, 8 in the maxilla). Histomorphometric parameters including total crack length and crack surface density were measured. The null hypothesis was rejected in favor of an alternate hypothesis: that the self-drilling technique results in more microdamage (microcracks) accumulation in the adjacent cortical bone in both the maxilla and the mandible immediately after mini-implant placement. A cluster level analysis was used to analyze the data on the outcome measured. Since the measurements were clustered within dogs, a paired-samples t test was used to analyze the average differences between insertion methods at both jaw locations. A significance level of 0.05 was used for both analyses.ResultsThe self-drilling technique resulted in greater total crack lengths in both the maxilla and the mandible (maxilla: mean difference, 18.70 ± 7.04 μm/mm2; CI, 13.29-24.11; mandible: mean difference, 22.98 ± 6.43 μm/mm2; CI, 18.04-27.93; P <0.05), higher crack surface density in both the maxilla and the mandible (maxilla: mean difference, 10.39 ± 9.16 μm/mm2; CI, 3.34-17.43; mandible: mean difference, 11.28 ± 3.41 μm/mm2; CI, 8.65-13.90; P <0.05).ConclusionsThis study demonstrated greater microdamage in the cortical bones of adult hounds in both the maxilla and the mandible by the self-drilling insertion technique compared with the self-tapping technique.