Clinical and scanning electron microscopic analysis of fractured dental implants: a retrospective clinical analysis

Many longitudinal studies have reported the successful osseointegration of dental implants, with survival rates approaching 90-95%. However, implants regarded as a "success" may have also failed to undergo osseointegration. A variety of complications and failures have been observed, including implant fracture - a rare and delayed biomechanical complication with serious clinical outcomes. Given the increasing popularity of dental implants, an increase in the number of failures due to late fractures is expected. This study sought to determine the rate of implant fractures and factors associated with its development. This retrospective evaluation analyzed implants placed at Wonkwang Dental Hospital (from 1996 to the present). In our study we found that the frequency of dental implant fractures was very low (0.23%, 8 implant fractures out of 3,500 implants placed). All observed fractures were associated with hybrid-surface threaded implants (with diameter of 4.0 or 3.75 mm). Prosthetic or abutment screw loosening preceded implant fracture in a majority of these cases.

Calcifying epithelial odontogenic tumor associated with the left mandibular first premolar: a case report and literature review

Calcifying epithelial odontogenic tumor (CEOT) is a rarely reported benign tumor, accounting for 0.4-3% of all odontogenic tumors. Approximately 150 cases have been reported in the literature between 1958 and 2003. The age range of CEOT varies from 8 to 92 years with mean of 36.9 years, and the occurrence of the lesion in both genders is almost equal. It has 2 clinico-topographic variants: the intraosseous (94%) and the extraosseous (6%) type. The intraosseous type has a predilection for mandible (maxilla : mandible ratio of 1 : 2). The intraosseous CEOT commonly associated with non-erupted teeth accounts for more than half (52%) of the cases and usually appears as painless swelling that causes bony expansion. The location of diffused round-shaped calcifying material is inside the connective tissue stroma and epithelial islands. The tumors tend to be located toward the tooth crown, which usually has a unilocular radiolucent region containing variant radiopaque materials radiologically. In this paper, we report a case of CEOT occurring in the left mandibular first premolar of a 23-year-old female and present a brief review of the literature.

Clinical study of surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion

Orthopedic rapid maxillary expansion(RME) has been a common treatment modality used to widen narrow maxillae in young children. However, since more skeletally matured adolescents or adults has closed midpalatal suture, the result of RME was undesirable because of dental tipping with little or no basal skeletal movement and resulted to many other complications. After such treatment, complications often occurred such as alveolar bending, compression of periodontal ligament, extrusion, buccal tipping, and severe relapse. Thus, surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion(SA-RME) is required, especially for patients over 14 years old, to skeletally release maxillary expansion. We used two methods of maxillary expansion surgery. Surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion(SA-RME) and surgically assisted posterior segmental expansion(SA-PSE) were used for narrow maxilla. The study was divided into two groups(SA-RME group and SA-PSE group). SA-RME group was consisted of 2 males and 4 females, and the ages of materials ranged from 15 years to 25 years with a mean of 20.2 years. SA-PSE group was consisted of 1 male and 5 females, and the ages ranged from 13 years to 23 years with a mean of 18.7 years. Dental study models were fabricated before starting the expansion and immediately after the expansion was completed. It was fabricated again 1 month later, 3 months later when the expansion device was removed, and 6 months later after the expansion was completed. A repeated measures analysis of variance(ANOVA) test was applied to assess changes between each groups over time. The amount of expansion and the amount of tipping movement each in both groups were compared by using paired t-test and it was also compared between each subjects within the group by using independent t-test. Both SA-RME and SA-PSE group showed stable results, but SA-PSE group showed statical significance in tipping movement of second premolar. We compared 6 patients who recieved SA-RME with 6 patients who received SA-PSE, and appraised the clinical usefulness.

Clinical study of mandible symphysis widening

Mandibular symphyseal distraction osteogenesis is an alternative approach for correcting mandibular transverse deficiencies and dental crowding. The traditional approaches for these are extraction of teeth and arch expansion with traditional orthodontic treatment. Also extractions are usually unavoidable in patients with severe crowding. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of mandibular symphyseal distraction osteogenesis by use of tooth-borne expansion appliance. All of 12 patients had been performed distraction osteogenesis. The surgical procedures were accomplished under local anesthesia and intravenous sedation in an ambulatory surgical setting using a routine distraction protocol. The latency period was 5 days or 7 days after symphyseal osteotomies. The rate and rhyth is a intermittent, 0.75mm or 1.0 mm per day and stabilized for 6, 8 weeks after distraction. The time of orthodontic tooth movement after distraction was variable from 2 weeks to 8 weeks (mean 3 weeks). All patients had been evaluated with study casts, plain periapical films, panorama radiograms before and after surgery. Mandibular symphyseal distraction osteogenesis increased mandibular arch width and corrected dental crowding, with paralleling tooth-borne movement, without proclination of the mandibular incisors.

Clinical study on success rate of single tooth implant