Will implants with a fixed dental prosthesis in the molar region enhance the longevity of teeth adjacent to distal free‐end edentulous spaces?

Abstract

Objectives Clinical evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of implants in preventing tooth loss is limited because of the many risk factors involved in tooth loss. This retrospective cohort study investigated whether an implant in the molar region of a distal free‐end edentulous space affects the loss of the most distal tooth after 6 years, adjusting for other risk factors associated with tooth loss using propensity score matching analysis. Material and Methods A total of 571 subjects and 1,085 teeth adjacent to a distal free‐end edentulous space were evaluated. At baseline, the 1,085 teeth were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of a molar implant with a fixed dental prosthesis in the distal free‐end edentulous space. Propensity score matching analysis was used to reduce the effects of bias by matching teeth with and without implants according to similar background factors at baseline. The adjusted variables were age group, occlusal support status, Kennedy classification, tooth position, tooth type, restoration status, dental caries, periodontal pocket depth, and condition of the opposing tooth. Results A total of 56 teeth (28 associated with a molar implant; 28 with no implant) were enrolled according to propensity score matching. Fisher's exact test showed that a molar implant significantly protected the tooth adjacent to the distal free‐end edentulous space (p = .01). Conclusions Within the limitations of this retrospective cohort study, it was found that implants in free‐end edentulous spaces may be beneficial in extending the longevity of adjacent teeth. Further research will be necessary to confirm this finding.

Effect of dental implant therapy on the preservation of orofacial tissues: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…The study by Okuni et al, 2022 showed no statistical differences between patients rehabilitated with R‐FPD and T‐FPD and those rehabilitated with I‐FPD. The study by Hatta et al, 2021 showed statistically higher SR of patients rehabilitated with I‐FPD when compared with patients with NR. Conversely, three studies showed no statistically significant differences in the SR of patients rehabilitated with T‐RPD and those rehabilitated with I‐FPD (Yamada et al, 2022; Yamazaki et al, 2013a, 2013b; Table 8).…”

“…Time in function ranged from 3.4 to 10 years. Four studies evaluated both the maxilla and mandible (Okuni et al, 2022;Yamada et al, 2022;Yamazaki et al, 2013aYamazaki et al, , 2013b, and one study only assessed the mandible (Hatta et al, 2021). All five studies evaluated survival rates (SR) of remaining teeth adjacent to edentulous spaces (TAES).…”

“…Five observational studies assessed the effect of different types of rehabilitation on the preservation of remaining teeth in partially edentulous patients, four retrospective studies (Hatta et al, 2021;Yamada et al, 2022;Yamazaki et al, 2013aYamazaki et al, , 2013b, and one prospective study (Okuni et al, 2022). The number of participants ranged between 24 and 514, totaling 1014 individuals.…”

“…Only one study was an RCT (Maniewicz et al, 2019). Of the 13 observational studies, nine were retrospective in design (Alrajhi et al, 2020;Hatta et al, 2021;Jacobs et al, 1992Jacobs et al, , 1993Khuder et al, 2017;Kordatzis et al, 2003;Yamada et al, 2022;Yamazaki et al, 2013a), three studies were prospective (Amaral et al, 2019;Okuni et al, 2022;Tymstra et al, 2011), and one was a crosssectional study (Muller et al, 2012).…”

Cushioned grind‐out technique transcrestal sinus floor elevation for simultaneous implantation in severe atrophic maxilla: A retrospective study with up to 7 years of follow‐up

“…Normally distributed data were expressed using means with standard deviation (SD) and analyzed using Student's t‐ test. Non‐normally distributed data were expressed using medians with interquartile range (IQR) and analyzed by the Wilcoxon Mann–Whitney test (Hatta et al, 2021).…”