Risk factors affecting dental implant survival

Given the predictability of dental implant success, the attention of the scientific community is moving from descriptions of implant success toward a more detailed analysis of factors associated with implant failure. The purposes of this study were (1) to estimate the 1- and 5-year survival of Bicon dental implants and (2) to identify risk factors associated with implant failure in an objective, statistically valid manner. To address the research purposes, we used a retrospective cohort study design and a study sample composed of patients who had one or more implants placed. The predictor variables were grouped into the following categories: demographic, health status, anatomic, implant fixture-specific, prosthetic, perioperative, and ancillary variables. The major outcome variable of interest was implant failure defined as implant removal. Overall implant survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier analysis. Risk factors for implant failure were identified using the Cox proportional hazard regression models. The study sample was composed of 677 patients who had 677 implants randomly selected for analysis. The overall 1- and 5-year survival of the Bicon implant system was 95.2% and 90.2%, respectively. After adjusting for other covariates in a multivariate model, both tobacco use (P = .0004) and single-stage implant placement (P = .01) were statistically associated with an increased risk for failure. The results of these analyses suggest that the overall survival of the Bicon dental implant is comparable with other current implant systems. In addition, after controlling for covariates, we identified 2 exposures associated with implant survival, tobacco use and implant staging. Of interest, both of these exposures are under the clinician's control.