Purpose: The purpose was to radiographically analyze and compare the marginal bone loss (MBL) between implants with different mismatching distance and to study the influence of the prosthetic abutment height on the MBL in association with the related mismatching distances.
Material and methods: This retrospective study included 108 patients in whom 228 implants were placed, 180 with diameter of 4.5 mm and 48 with diameter of 5 mm. All patients received OsseoSpeed™ implants with internal tapered conical connection (Denstply Implants). Different mismatching distances were obtained, given that all implants were loaded with the same uni-abutment type (Lilac; Denstply Implants). Data were gathered on age, gender, bone substratum, smoking habits, previous history of periodontitis, and prosthetic features. MBL was analyzed radiographically at 6 and 18 months post-loading.
Results: Mixed linear analysis of mesial and distal MBL values yielded significant effects of abutment, implant diameter, follow-up period, bone substratum, smoking, and abutment × time interaction. MBL was greater at 18 vs. 6 months, for short vs. long abutments, for grafted vs. pristine bone, for a heavier smoking habit, and for implants with a diameter of 5.0 vs. 4.5 mm.
Conclusion: Greater mismatching does not minimize the MBL; abutment height, smoking habit, and bone substratum may play a role in the MBL over the short- and medium term.
Keywords: alveolar bone loss; dental implant and dental implant-abutment connection; peri-implantitis.
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.