Performance and outcome of zirconia dental implants in clinical studies: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate implant survival, peri-implant marginal bone loss, technical, and biological complications as well as aesthetic outcomes of zirconia implants in clinical studies.

Material and methods: Electronic (Medline, Embase) and hand searches were performed to identify clinical studies published between January 2004 and March 2017 investigating zirconia dental implants with a mean follow-up of at least 12 months. Primary outcomes were implant survival and peri-implant marginal bone loss. Secondary outcomes included technical and biological complications as well as aesthetic outcomes. Meta-analyses were performed to estimate implant survival and marginal bone loss.

Results: From 943 titles, 264 abstracts were selected. Subsequently, 80 full-text articles were screened, and 18 studies were included for data extraction. One- (14 studies) and 2-piece zirconia implants (4 studies) were investigated. Commercially available (CA) (510 implants, 398 patients) and not commercially available (NCA) zirconia implants (618 implants, 343 patients) were identified. For CA implants (follow-up: 12-61.20 months), technical complications (1.6%), implant fractures (0.2%) and biological complications (4.2%) were reported. Meta-analyses estimated 1- and 2-year survival rates of 98.3% (95% CI: 97.0%-99.6%) and 97.2% (95% CI: 94.7%-99.7%), respectively, and a mean 1-year marginal bone loss of 0.7 mm (95% CI: 0.4-1.0 mm).

Conclusions: Since 2004, the survival rates of CA implants significantly improved compared with NCA implants. CA 1-piece zirconia implants showed similar 1- and 2-year mean survival rates and marginal bone loss after 1 year compared with published data for titanium implants. However, more clinical long-term data are needed to confirm the presently evaluated promising short-term outcomes.

Keywords: aesthetics; biological complications; dental implants; implant survival; marginal bone loss; meta-analysis; prosthetics; soft tissue; technical complications; yttria stabilized tetragonal zirconia; zirconium oxide.