Soft Tissue Conditions and Marginal Bone Changes around Immediately Loaded Implants Inserted in Edentate Jaws Following Computer Guided Treatment Planning and Flapless Surgery: A ≥1-Year Clinical Follow-Up Study

Abstract

Background: Evaluation of the clinical conditions following computer guided treatment planning and flapless surgery is still limited. Objectives: The objective was to evaluate the soft tissue conditions and marginal bone changes after 1 year of function around immediately loaded implants inserted in edentate jaws following computer guided treatment planning and flapless surgery. Material and Methods: Twenty-nine edentate jaws (19 maxillae, 10 mandibles) treated with 165 implants using the Teeth-in-an-Hour™ protocol were included. In these patients, peri-implant soft tissue conditions and radiographic marginal bone changes were evaluated after ≥1 year of functional loading (mean: 19 months). Results: The mean probing depth at case level was 2.6mm (SD: 0.6). Bleeding on probing was recorded as a mean of 81.9% (SD: 23.0). Plaque index showed a wide range of 0-100%. The mean marginal bone change of measured sites evaluated on intraoral radiographs was -1.2mm (SD: 1.4). A marginal bone loss more than 1.5mm or 2.0mm was observed in 42% and 27% of the measured sites, respectively. A pressure-like-ulcer was found in 9 cases. Implants with marginal bone loss of >1.5mm were more frequently observed in cases with an ulcer than cases where no ulcer was found. Conclusion: Although the mean marginal bone loss after function in the present study was within the range of other reports presenting mean bone loss data after immediate implant loading, our patients showed a wide range of bone loss with several sites, where the bone loss was greater than the commonly used successful level (>1.5mm). © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.