Due to growing demand for metal-free dental restorations, dental ceramics, especially dental zirconia, represent an increasing share of the dental implants market. They may offer mechanical performances of the same range as titanium ones. However, their use is still restricted by a lack of confidence in their durability and, in particular, in their ability to resist hydrothermal ageing. In the present study, the ageing kinetics of commercial zirconia dental implants are characterized by X-ray diffraction after accelerated ageing in an autoclave at different temperatures, enabling their extrapolation to body temperature. Measurements of the fracture loads show no effect of hydrothermal ageing even after ageing treatments simulated a 90-year implantation.
Keywords: dental implant; hydrothermal ageing; strength; zirconia.