The success of dental implant surgery is majorly dependent on the stability of prosthesis to anchor to implant body as well as the integration of implant body to bone. The attachment between dental implant body and abutment plays a vital role in attributing to the stability of dental implant system. A good connection between implant body cavity to abutment may minimize the complications of abutment loosening and implant fractures as widely reported in clinical findings. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of different abutment-implant connections on stress dispersion within the abutment and implant bodies as well as displacement of implant body via three-dimensional (3-D) finite element analysis (FEA). A 3-D model of mandible was reconstructed from computed tomography (CT) image datasets using an image-processing software with the selected region of interest was the left side covering the second premolar, first molar and second molar regions. The bone was modelled as compact (cortical) and porous (cancellous) structures. Besides, three implant bodies and three generic models of abutment with different types of connections - tapered interference fit (TIF), tapered integrated screwed-in (TIS) and screw retention (SR) were created using computer-aided design (CAD) software and all models were then analysed via 3D FEA software. Occlusal forces of 114.6 N, 17.2 N and 23.4 N were applied in the axial, lingual and mesio-distal directions, respectively, on the top surface of first molar crown. All planes of the mandibular bone model were rigidly fixed. The result exhibited that abutment with TIS connection produced the most favourable stress and displacement outcomes as compared to other attachment types. This is due to the existence of integrated screw at the bottom portion of tapered abutment which increases the motion resistance.
