Posterior implant single-tooth replacement and status of adjacent teeth during a 10-year period: a retrospective report.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this case series study was to evaluate posterior single-tooth implant survival and the long-term conditions of the adjacent teeth. METHODS: A retrospective evaluation of 1,162 consecutive patients with a single missing posterior tooth treated with 1,377 external hex implants supporting 1,365 restorations surrounded by natural teeth over a 1- to 10-year period was reviewed from four private offices. Implant survival data were collected relative to stage I to stage II healing, stage II to prosthesis delivery, and prosthesis delivery to up to 10 years of follow-up. Long-term adjacent tooth conditions were assessed, including decay, endodontic therapy (root canal therapy [RCT]), and/or extraction during the follow-up period. RESULTS: Of the 1,377 implants inserted, there were 11 surgical failures from stage I to stage II healing. There was one failure from stage II healing to prosthesis delivery. There were two prosthetic-phase failures. The surgical success rate was 99.2%, whereas the overall survival rate was 98.9% at an average of 61 months of follow-up (range, 12 to 125 months). A total of 2,589 adjacent teeth were followed during the study. No natural adjacent tooth was lost during this period. Interproximal decay developed in 129 adjacent teeth (5%), and nine adjacent teeth required RCT (0.4%) as a result of decay or restoration. CONCLUSIONS: The use of single-tooth implants as replacements for posterior missing teeth is a viable long-term treatment. Adjacent natural teeth complications are minimal for as long as 10 years after implant insertion.

Short dental implants in posterior partial edentulism: a multicenter retrospective 6-year case series study.

BACKGROUND: Implants <10 mm long in the posterior regions of partial edentulous patients have a higher failure rate in many clinical reports. The purpose of this case series study was to evaluate implant survival when a biomechanical approach was used to decrease stress to the bone-implant interface. METHODS: A retrospective evaluation of 273 consecutive posterior partially edentulous patients treated with 745 implants. 7 or 9 mm long, supporting 338 restorations over a 1- to 5-year period was reviewed from four private offices. Implant survival data were collected relative to stage I to stage II healing, stage II to prosthesis delivery, and prosthesis delivery to as long as 6 years follow-up. A biomechanical approach to decrease stress to the posterior implants included splinting implants together with no cantilever load, restoring the patient with a mutually protected or canine guidance occlusion, and selecting an implant designed to increase bone-implant contact surface area. RESULTS: Of the 745 implants inserted, there were six surgical failures from stage I to stage II healing to prosthesis delivery. No implants failed after the 338 final implant prostheses were delivered. A 98.9% survival rate was obtained from stage I surgery to prosthetic follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Short-length implants may predictably be used to support fixed restorations in posterior partial edentulism. Methods to decrease biomechanical stress to the bone-implant interface appear appropriate for this treatment.

Implant plastic surgery: a review and rationale.

Implant dentistry has been established as a predictable treatment modality with high clinical success rates. Esthetic considerations of implant restorations have been gaining increased interest over the years. The role of periodontal plastic surgical procedures in the creation and maintenance of peri-implant soft tissue heights to facilitate better esthetics has become more popular. The available plastic surgery procedures and their clinical applications are reviewed in this article. Emphasis is placed on factors to consider for proper case selection and ideal treatment planning.

Stereolithographic surgical templates for placement of dental implants in complex cases.

In recent years, dental implant rehabilitation has faced demands from prosthetic and esthetic arenas that call for increasingly ideal outcomes, which require precise surgical planning and placement. Anatomic limitations and bone quantity and quality can now be evaluated using more sophisticated radiographic techniques, although transferring this information to the surgical phase has been at best a difficult task. Recently, computer-aided design and manufacturing have made it possible to use data from computerized tomography to not only plan implant rehabilitation, but also to transfer this information to the surgery. One of these techniques uses stereolithography, a laser-driven polymerization process that fabricates an anatomic model and surgical templates. This novel approach is illustrated with two advanced cases, demonstrating that the technique not only allows for the precise translation of the treatment plan directly to the surgical field, but also offers many significant benefits over traditional procedures.

Microbiology and treatment of halitosis.

The prevalence of oral malodor is probably high in the United States, although precise epidemiological data are missing. The many thousands of individuals who experience oral malodor from the overgrowth of proteolytic, anaerobic bacteria on their tongue surfaces can be successfully treated by a regimen that includes tongue brushing, toothbrushing and possibly the usage of mouthrinses containing various agents. Several candidate mouthrinses containing essential oils (Listerine), ZnCl2, or an oil, water and cetylpyridum chloride mouthrinse have reduced the organoleptic scores of individuals with moderate levels of oral malodor in the absence of tongue brushing. Very few long-term data beyond 6 weeks of usage are available. Anecdotal evidence suggests that other agents such as chlorine dioxide may be helpful. These mouthrinses should be marketed as oral deodorants that are analogous in purpose to the usage of deodorant soaps to control and/or eliminate body malodors. In this way the mouthrinse could be considered as a cosmetic by the FDA, provided that there are data on the safety of the various ingredients in the mouthrinse. Mouthrinses containing zinc ions are able to reduce the levels of volatile sulfur compounds by converting these volatile compounds to non-volatile, and therefore, non-malodorous zinc sulfides, and this mode of action would appear to support a cosmetic claim.