Mechanical performance of bioresorbable maxillofacial implants

JP BULACIOS; C. BERNAL; E. PEREZ

Merseburg

Congreso; PolyMerTec 21 digital; 2021

Hochschule Merseburg

due to the several advantages observed overtitanium fixation systems. Implants based on pure polylactic acid (PLA) orcopolymers with polyglycolic acid (PGA) have been successfully applied. Independentlyof the prominent reported data, these polymers exhibit some limited mechanical performance(resistance, fracture toughness, among others). This disadvantage can be avoidby processing of composite materials based on PLA, PLA/PGA reinforced withcalcium phosphates. In the present work, the mechanical performance of maxillofacialimplant system was investigated. The components (plate and screw) werefabricated with PLA or PLA-PGA reinforced with different content of β-tricalciumphosphate (TCP). In general, uniaxial tensile and 3-pointbending tests of plates displayed semi-brittle behaviorwith a precipitous drop of load behind the maximum value. In addition, the maximalstrengths were observed for both matrices reinforced with 1 wt.% of TCP. In asimilar way, cantilever test of the screws displayed maximal strengths for bothmatrices reinforced with 1 wt.% of TCP. On the other hand, torque testexhibited improved performance for the PLA based materials compared to thePLA/PGA ones. The obtained results suggest the accuracy to produce compositematerials based on PLA, PLA/PGA reinforced with TCP to obtain bioresorbable implantswith enhanced performance. Particularly, the torque behavior of PLA/PGA shouldbe considered to warrant the long term success of maxillofacial implantsystems.