Marginal Bone Loss and Treatment Complications with Mandibular Overdentures Retained by Two Immediate or Conventionally Loaded Implants—A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

This study aimed to assess marginal bone loss and complication rates of mandibular overdentures retained on two implants with conventional and immediate loading protocols. Twenty edentulous patients were treated with mandibular two-implant-retained overdentures and new complete maxillary dentures. In one half of the sample, the implants were loaded immediately by VulkanLoc® abutments. In the counterpart group, these abutments were connected to the implants two months after implant placement (conventional protocol). Treatment outcomes were evaluated at 2, 6, and 12 months after implant placement. According to the pre- and post-insertion radiographs, there was a mean marginal bone loss of 0.25–0.59 mm (CI 95%) after 13.4 ± 2.1 months of follow-up. There were no significant differences between groups. The failure rate (percentage of implants failing per year) was slightly higher in the conventional loading group (14.0 ± 32.7%) than in the immediate loading group (8.3 ± 18.0%). The findings of the present study suggested that there were no differences in marginal bone loss observed at one year for immediately loaded implants (0.40–0.39 mm) versus conventionally loaded implants (0.44- 0.36 mm) placed for the retention of mandibular overdentures. There were no differences in primary and secondary stability of immediately loaded versus conventional implants; however, in the conventional loading group, stability increased significantly between implant placement compared at both 6 and 12 months post-placement.