Alveolar chewing vs basal chewing: two mechanical worlds

How does the bone react to chewing? It depends on which road you follow: the alveolar road (spongy bone, fragile shock absorber) or the basal road (compact bone, absolute structural rigidity).

1. Chewing on the alveolar road (spongy bone)

The alveolar bone reacts to chewing based on the principle of the adaptive biological response.

The mechanism: when you chew hard food, the vertical and lateral forces are distributed along the body of the screw and absorbed by the dense network of trabeculae of the spongy bone. This tissue acts almost like a natural "shock absorber".

The long-term advantage: if the load is correct, the micro-stresses stimulate the osteoblasts to keep the bone dense around the threads of the implant.

The masticatory weak point: stability is linked to the maintenance of the most superficial millimetre of bone (alveolar crest). If the gum becomes inflamed or there is minimal marginal bone loss, the chewing lever increases, weakening the stability of the screw from the upper side.

2. Chewing on the basal road (compact bone)

The basal bone reacts to chewing based on the principle of absolute structural rigidity.

The mechanism: basal implants bypass the superficial areas and connect directly to the deep cortical areas (such as the lower profile of the mandible or the pterygoid pillars of the skull). During chewing the forces do not meet yielding spongy areas, but discharge directly onto the lines of force of the facial skeleton.

The long-term advantage: since the basal bone has a very high mineral density and an extremely slow cell turnover, the mechanical connection between the screw and the bone does not deteriorate over the years. The masticatory force can be maximum from the first days: stability does not depend on the healing of a bone wound, but on the solidity of an already formed and immutable skeletal structure.

3. The comparison

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