Spiral implants bearing full-arch rehabilitation: analysis of clinical outcome

A spiral implant (SPI) is a conical internal helix implant with a variable thread design which confers the characteristic of self drilling, self tapping, and self bone condensing. The effectiveness of this type of implant has been reported in several clinical situations. However, because there are no reports that specifically focus on one of the biggest challenges in oral rehabilitation, that is, full arch rehabilitation, it was decided to perform a retrospective study. The study population was composed of 23 patients (12 women and 11 men, median age 57 years) for evaluation and implant treatment between January 2005 and June 2009. Two-hundred six spiral family implants (SFIs) were inserted with a mean postloading follow-up of 23 months. Several variables were investigated: demographic (age and gender), anatomic (maxilla and mandible, tooth site), implant (type, length, and diameter), surgical (surgeon, postextractive, flapless technique, grafts), and prosthetic (implant/crown ratio, dentition in the antagonist arch, type of loading, and computerized tomography [CT] planning) variables. Implant loss and peri-implant bone resorption were evaluated. Univariate and multivariate tests were performed. Survival and success rates were 97.1% and 82.5%, respectively. Only implant length and implant/crown ratio showed statistical significance in determining a better clinical outcome. In conclusion, SFIs are a reliable tool for the most difficult cases of oral rehabilitation. No differences were detected among implant type. Length and implant/crown ratio can influence the crestal bone resorption with better result for longer fixtures and a higher implant/crown ratio. In addition, banked bone derived from living donors can be used to restore alveolar ridge augmentation without adverse effects. Finally, flapless and CT-planned surgery did not significantly increase the clinical outcome in most complex rehabilitation.