the effect of lubricant on the detorque force of locator/kerator abutment in overdenture patients: a pilot clinical study

Background: despite the implants’ remarkable success, mechanical failure of implant-abutment screws is a challenge for clinicians. among the types of mechanical failures, abutment screw loosening is still frequently reported in the literature.purpose: the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of using lubricant on the detorque force (removal force) of locator/kerator abutment in overdenture patients after 6 months of clinical usage.materials and method: this pilot clinical study examined the detorque force of implants in 20 edentulous patients with two mandibular implants positioned between the mental foramen. the patients underwent the fabrication of a complete maxillary prosthesis and mandibular overdenture. before loading attachments in the delivery session, healing abutments were removed, and implant interiors dried, randomly some fixtures received a tetracycline eye ointment 1% lubricant, while the others remained non-lubricated. abutments were secured with prescribed torque according to implant system guidelines (20 n.cm). after 6 months, detorque forces for the abutment locators were measured using a torque meter. descriptive statistics, mean comparison, and pearson correlation were performed on the obtained data. a significant level of p<0.05 was considered in the present study.results: the mean detorque force was 13.4±1.94 in the non-lubricated group and 16.35± 1.24 in the lubricated group, which was significantly higher in the lubricated group (p< 0.001). other results of the study include the non-significance of the difference in detorque force within male and female groups (p> 0.05), as well as the non-significance of pearson’s correlation between patients’ age and detorque force (p> 0.05).conclusion: according to the results, the use of lubricant significantly increases the detorque force, and it is recommended to use tetracycline eye ointment as a lubricant in implant treatment processes.