Abstract      

 Restorative implant materials and technique have continued to evolve and improve. Implant overdentures with magnetic attachment are drawing attention due to their excellent retentive mechanism.

 A keeper corresponding a magnetic assembly is secured to the implant to exert the function of an attachment.

 In the screw-retaining method, a keeper is mechanically secured to an implant using a retaining screw. The benefit of this method is that a keeper can be removed by operators, and, therefore, suitable for the maintenance. However, since a keeper is mechanically fixed using a screw, safety should be considered in the long-term intraoral performance of this implant. There have been several reports on clinical problems such as a fracture of an abutment screw. It is extremely important to understand mechanical influence of keeper fixture methods on implants to investigate the optimal retaining method.

 The purpose of the present study was to investigate mechanical influence of keeper retaining method with screws using the three-dimensional finite element method.