Analysis of percussion response of dental implants: an in vitro study.

The Periometer® quantitative percussion system was used to interrogate the interfacial stability of implants in vitro for comparison with X-ray computer tomography (CT) data. Selected implants were placed as per standard practice in bone stimulant polyurethane blocks. The dimensions of the surgical sites surrounding the implants were analyzed using X-ray computer tomography (CT) to determine the quality of support at the implant-bone interface. In particular, the misfit between the size of the surgical site and the corresponding implant was determined for each sample. The resulting average surgical site error from the CT scans was found to exhibit good agreement with the presence of irregularities found in the percussion data.