The Effect of Simplifying Dental Implant Drilling Sequence on Osseointegration: An Experimental Study in Dogs

Objectives . To test the hypothesis that there would be no differences in osseointegration by reducing the number of drills for site preparation relative to conventional drilling sequence. Methods . Seventy-two implants were bilaterally placed in the tibia of 18 beagle dogs and remained for 1, 3, and 5 weeks. Thirty-six implants were 3.75 mm in diameter and the other 36 were 4.2 mm. Half of the implants of each diameter were placed under a simplified technique (pilot drill + final diameter drill) and the other half were placed under conventional drilling where multiple drills of increasing diameter were utilized. After euthanisation, the bone-implant samples were processed and referred to histological analysis. Bone-to-implant contact (BIC) and bone-area-fraction occupancy (BAFO) were assessed. Statistical analyses were performed by GLM ANOVA at 95% level of significance considering implant diameter, time in vivo, and drilling procedure as independent variables and BIC and BAFO as the dependent variables. Results . Both techniques led to implant integration. No differences in BIC and BAFO were observed between drilling procedures as time elapsed in vivo . Conclusions . The simplified drilling protocol presented comparable osseointegration outcomes to the conventional protocol, which proved the initial hypothesis.