Clinical complications with implants and implant prostheses.

Area of Science:

• Dentistry
• Biomaterials Science
• Prosthodontics

Background:

• Endosseous root form implants are widely used in dental restorations.
• Understanding associated complications is crucial for improving patient outcomes and treatment planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and categorize reported complications associated with endosseous root form implants and their prostheses.
• To analyze the incidence of various complications based on available clinical data.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a Medline and hand search of English-language publications from 1981 onwards.
• Focused on studies reporting clinical data on implant success, failure, and complications.
• Classified complications into surgical, implant loss, bone loss, soft tissue, mechanical, and esthetic/phonetic categories.

Main Results:

• Identified specific high-incidence complications: overdenture retentive mechanism loosening (33%), implant loss in irradiated maxillae (25%), and hemorrhage-related issues (24%).
• Other notable complications included resin veneer fracture (22%) and implant loss in maxillary overdentures (21%).
• Implant prostheses showed a trend toward higher complication incidence compared to single crowns and fixed partial dentures.

Conclusions:

• Complications associated with endosseous implants vary widely, with mechanical and implant loss issues being prominent.
• Implant prostheses, in general, appear to have a higher complication rate than simpler restorations.
• Further research is needed to establish an overall complication incidence due to data heterogeneity across studies.