Background: The amount of marginal bone resorption around dental implants is considered to have a significant impact on implant stability as well as implant survival rates.
Purpose: The aim of this prospective study was to investigate the influence of prosthetic as well as patient specific factors on marginal bone loss around short dental implants.
Materials and methods: Seventy-six implants, which supported splinted crowns were included for investigation. All implants were from the same type and had an intraosseous length of 6.5 mm and a diameter of 4.0 mm. Twenty implants were additionally splinted onto longer ones. Measurements of marginal bone loss were performed at a mean of 12.38 months after prosthetic loading and the mean follow-up for clinical evaluation was 20.52 months.
Results: Overall two implant failures were recorded, revealing a survival rate of 97.3%. Marginal bone resorption around 72 short implants measured 0.71 mm (SD: 0.74 mm) and was found to have a strong correlation with calculated Crown-to-Implant ratio (r = .71; P < .001). Age, gender, insertion torque, implant surface area, location, position, bone quality, and insertion torque did not influence peri-implant bone loss after one year of loading.
Conclusion: Within the limitations of the study, it is suggested that Crown-to-Implant ratios should not exceed 1.7 to avoid increased early marginal bone loss.
Keywords: crestal bone resorption; implant survival; prospective; short implants.
© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.