The effects of different thickness of hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings on bone stress distribution near the dental implant-bone interface are very important factors for the HA-coated dental implant design and clinical application. By means of finite element analysis (FEA), the bone stress distributions near the dental implant coated with different thicknesses from 0 to 200 mu m were calculated and analyzed under the 200 N chewing load. In all cases, the maximal von Mises stresses in the bone are at the positions near the neck of dental implant on the lingual side, and decrease with the increase of the HA coatings thickness. The HA coatings weaken the stress concentration and improve the biomechanical property in the bone, however, in HA coatings thickness range of 60-120 mu m, the distinctions of that benefit are not obvious. In addition, considering the technical reason of HA coatings, we conclude that thickness of HA coatings range from 60 to 120 mu m would be the better choice for clinical application. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.