Purpose: To determine the prevalence and distribution of prosthetic complications affecting implant-supported fixed dental prostheses (ISFDPs).
Materials and methods: Subjects previously treated with one or more ISFDP(s) were identified from an electronic health record search and recalled for comprehensive clinical examination. Past prosthesis failures and complications were identified from the patient records while any existing complications, not previously recorded, were assessed during examination. ISFDP survival and failure rates were calculated with Kaplan-Meier curves and life table analysis, while regression Poisson analysis was used to identify associations between outcomes and possible patient- and prosthesis-based risk factors.
Results: Seventy-four subjects with 107 ISFDPs were enrolled in the study with a mean time between prosthesis delivery and exam of 3.14 years (range: 1.00-9.00 years). Four prostheses failed, resulting in a cumulative prosthesis survival rate of 96.26%. Prosthetic complications affected 48.59% of ISFDPs, the majority (94.87%) of them minor complications. Only the use of a nightguard was associated with a lower prevalence of prosthetic screw loosening (HR 0.11, 95% CI 0.02-0.59, p = 0.007) while no outcome differences were noted for other variables. Patient satisfaction was high regardless of presence or number of complications.
Conclusions: ISFDPs demonstrated a high survival rate and overall high, patient-reported satisfaction. Minor prosthetic complications were common but were only significantly associated with nightguard use.
Keywords: Dental prosthesis design; dental prosthesis retention; fixed dental prosthesis; fixed partial denture; implant-supported; mechanical complications; prosthesis survival; technical complications.
© 2020 by the American College of Prosthodontists.