No abstract

This study evaluated by standardised digitised periapical radiography the crestal bone maintenance around modified diameter internal hex implants with variable thread design and narrow neck loaded with different procedures. Forty implants were placed in 25 patients. Twenty implants were conventionally loaded, 20 ones immediately loaded. Radiographs were taken with a customised bite record and processed with software. Measurements of bone from the fixture-abutment junction to mesial and distal marginal bone levels were made. Student's t test statistical analysis was adopted. Baseline data were variable; at 1-year follow-up, there were no significant differences for marginal bone loss between immediately and conventionally loaded maxillary implants (p = 0.1031), whilst there were slight significant differences between immediately and conventionally loaded implants in the mandible (p = 0.0141). Crestal bone maintenance around conventionally and immediately loaded modified diameter implants was similar, with slight significant differences in mandible where a lower marginal bone loss was observed.

Aim Spiral family implants are a root-form fixtures with increasing thickness of tread. This characteristic gives a self-tapping and self-condensing bone properties to implants. To study spiral family implant inserted in different bone quality and connected with abutments of different angulations a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was performed. Once drawn the systems that were object of the study by CAD (Computer Aided Design), the FEA discretized solids composing the system in many infinitesimal little elementary solids defined finite elements. This lead to a mesh formation where the single finite elements were connected among them by nodes. For the 3 units bone-implant-abutments several thousand of tetrahedral elements having 10 parabolic nodes were employed. Materials and methods The biomechanical behaviour of 4.2 mm x 13 mm dental implants, connecting screw, straight and 15° and 25° angulated abutment subjected to static loads, in contact with high and poor bone quality was evaluated by FEA. A double system was analyzed: a) FY strength acting along Y axis and having 200 N intensity; b) FY and FZ couple of strengths applied along Y and Z directions and having respectively 200N and 140N intensity. The materials were considered as homogeneous, linear and isotropic. Then the FEA simulation was performed hypothesizing a linearity between loads and deformations. Results The lowest stress value was found in the system composed by implants and straight abutments loaded with a vertical strength, while the highest stress value were found in implants and 15° angulated abutment loaded with a angulated strength. In addition, the lower is the bone quality (i.e. D4) the higher is the distribution of the stress within the bone. Conclusion Spiral family implants can be used successfully in low bone quality but a straight force is recommended.

Adjacent implants inserted with a distance lower and higher than 1.8 mm have difference in crestal bone resorption but this difference is not statistically significant in a short period follow up. This could due to the specific implant used that has a reverse conical neck. No statistical difference was detected between implant subtypes. Post-extractive implant insertion is the major determinant in terms of peri-implant bone resorption in a short period follow-up.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the interplay between microstructure and function of the bone around an immediately loaded implant retrieved from human maxilla after 23 months due to fracture. A spiral implant of 3.3 mm x 15 mm was placed in a male 53 years old in the anterior region of the mandible bone (4.1) and it was processed for histology. The specimen was analyzed under the confocal scanning laser microscope (CSLM) and brightfield light microscope (LM) equipped with circularly polarized light (CPL). The BIC rate was 76.7± 4.9 (mean ±SD). Many cement lines indicates an high remodeling rate of the bone. The transverse collagen fiber orientation (CFO) (mean ±SD) under the lower flank of the thread near the tread tip was 55.2 ± 4.8 × 104 pixel while the longitudinal CFO was 45.8 ± 2.3 × 104 pixel (P<.05). In the inter-threads region the transverse CFO (mean ±SD) was 36.4 ± 2.4 × 104 pixel while the longitudinal CFO was 65.6 ± 6.5 × 104 pixel (P<.05). The osteocytes numbers (mean ±SD) was 205 ± 45 in the peri-implant bone and 144 ± 53 in the native bone (P=.007). After 2-years of loading the SLA spiral implant was well osseointegrated but still surrounded by woven bone. The osteocytes density was significantly higher in the peri-implant bone than in the native bone. The transverse collagen fibers were significantly associated with the lower flank of the implant threads, while the longitudinal collagen fibers were more represented in the straight surface of the implant. The implant fracture was correlated to crestal bone resorbing and subsequent fatigue yielding.

Bone platform switching involves an inward bone ring in the coronal part of the implant that is in continuity with the alveolar bone crest. Bone platform switching is obtained by using a dental fixture with a reverse conical neck. A retrospective study was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of conventional vs reverse conical neck implants. In the period between May 2004 and November 2007, 86 patients (55 females and 31 males; median age, 53 years) were operated and 234 implants were inserted: 40 and 194 were conventional vs reverse conical neck implants, respectively. Kaplan-Meier algorithm and Cox regression were used to detect those variables associated with the clinical outcome. No differences in survival and success rates were detected between conventional vs reverse conical neck implants alone or in combination with any of the studied variables. Although bone platform switching leads to several advantages, no statistical difference in alveolar crest resorption is detected in comparison with reverse conical neck implants. We suppose that the proximity of the implant abutment junction to the alveolar crestal bone gives no protection against the microflora contained in the micrograph. Additional studies on larger series and a combination of platform switching and bone platform switching could lead to improved clinical outcomes.

Computer-planned and cast model-transferred implantology give good clinical results in survival and success rate. It is a useful technology that should be used in most difficult cases such as totally edentulous patients and reduced crestal bone volume.

It was demonstrated that postextractive SFIs have a high survival and success rate that are similar to those reported in previous studies of 2-stage procedures or in immediate loading implants inserted in healed bone.