Etiology, risk factors and management of implant fractures

Implant fracture is an infrequent and late biomechanical complication with a serious clinical outcome. In effect, such fractures pose important problems for both the patient and the dental surgeon. According to most literature sources, the prevalence of dental implant fractures is very low (approximately 2 fractures per 1000 implants in the mouth). Considering that implant placement is becoming increasingly popular, an increase in the number of failures due to late fractures is to be expected. Clearly, careful treatment can contribute to reduce the incidence of fracture. An early diagnosis of the signs alerting to implant fatigue, such as loosening, torsion or fracture of the post screws and prosthetic ceramic fracture, can help prevent an undesirable outcome. The present literature review describes the management options and discusses the possible causal mechanisms underlying such failures, as well as the factors believed to contribute to implant fracture.