Antiseptic skin preparation was done starting at the center of the surgical site and moved to the outside of the prepared area in a circular manner. Three scrubs with 2% chlorhexidine solution and three alternating rinses with alcohol were performed. The animal was draped and fixed with clamps on a sterile, impermeable covering to isolate the disinfected area. This was performed by the gloved and gowned surgical team under sterile conditions.

Surgical protocol for 3M^™ESPE^™ MDIs

A small longitudinal skin incision just distal to the tibia-femur joint was made. The tibia/femur head was exposed subperiosteally and an osteotomy performed with the delicately placed pilot drill over the entry point and lightly pumped up and down under copius saline irrigation just to enter the cortical bone for the MDIs. This was used for initial bone drilling to depth of 0.5 mm. The 3M^™ESPE^™ MDI (size 1.8 mm × 10 mm) vial was opened and the body of the implant was firmly grasped with a sterilized locking pliers. The titanium finger driver was attached to the head of the implant. The implant was transferred to the site and rotated clockwise while exerting downwards pressure. This began the self tapping process and was used until noticeable bony resistance encountered when it touched the lower cortical plate. The winged thumb wrench was used for driving the implant deeper into the bone, if necessary. All the animals received one MDI on the head of each tibia or femur. Therefore, total 18 mini dental implants were inserted.

Surgical protocol for the Ankylos^® implants

Equal number of comparator implants (size 3.5 mm × 8 mm) were inserted in the other tibia/femur head of the animals after doing the osteotomy according to the manufacturer’s protocol as follows.