Ten-year retrospective follow-up study of the TiOblast dental implant

Long-term results in the clinical outcome of different implant systems, including high patient numbers and a long follow-up time, are rare. This retrospective study evaluated the cumulative survival rate of a self-tapping, cylindrical implant system with a conical implant-abutment connection after 10 years of prosthetic loading.

A total of 516 TiOblast implants (Astra Tech AB, Mölndal, Sweden) were placed in 108 patients. The patients were treated in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany, between September 1994 and May 2005. The main indications for implantation were the treatment of edentulous mandibles (74%) and partial edentulism (15%). Twenty-three implants were placed postradiation, and a further 64 implants were irradiated after insertion. In 153 implants, a bony augmentation was conducted prior to implantation.

The in situ rate was 89.7% after an average implantation time of 108 months. Eighty-three patients with 403 implants were available for investigation. Seventeen patients with 76 implants have died since 1994. Absence of osseointegration (n = 22), peri-implantitis (n = 18), fracture of the implants (n = 9), failing of primary stability (n = 2), and implants next to tumors (n = 2) were the reasons of explantation in 26 patients. Under analysis with different implant success-assessment criteria, the success rate showed results from 76 to 89%.

With respect to the critical patient selection including a high number of patients with minor and major augmentations, the 10-year clinical use of the studied implant system showed acceptable results.