Peri-implantitis in a specialist clinic of periodontology. Clinical features and risk indicators.

Abstract

Implant therapy has become a widely recognized treatment alternative for
replacing missing teeth. Several long term follow-up studies have shown that the
survival rate is high. However, complications may appear and risk indcators
associated with early and late failures have been identified. The purpose of the
present retrospective clinical study was to describe some clinical features of
patients with clinical signs of peri-implantitis and to identify risk indicators
of peri-implantitis in a population at a specialist clinic of Periodontology. In
total,the material consisted of 377 implants in 111
patients with the diagnosis peri-implantitis. The mean age at the examination
was found to be 56.3 years (range 22-83) for females and 64.1 years (range
27-85) for males. The mean number of remaining teeth was found to be 10.5 (S.D.
8.89) and the mean number of implants was 5.85
(S.D. 3.42). For a majority of the subjects, more than 50% of the remaining
teeth had a marginal bone loss of more than 1/3 of the root length. Forty-sex
percent of the patients visited regularly dental hygienists for supportive
treatment. The percentage of implants with
peri-implantitis was significantly increased for smokers compared to non-smokers
(p = 0.04). In the group of non-smokers, 64% of the implants had the diagnosis peri-implantitis, while the
corresponding relative frequency for smokers was 78%. A majority of the
individuals had a Plaque index and Bleeding on probing index >50%. The median
of the follow-up time after implant placement was 7.4 years and the observation
period was not significantly correlated to the degree of bone loss around the
implants. Among the subjects with a mean bone loss
>6 mm at implants with peri-implantitis, more
than 70% had a mean marginal bone loss > 1/3 of the root length of the
remaining teeth. A positive and significant correlation was found between the
degree of marginal bone loss in remaining teeth and the degree of bone loss
around implants with peri-implantitis. In
conclusion, the results of the present study indicate that smoking as well as
previous history of periodontitis are associated with peri-implantitis and may
represent risk factors for this disease