Periodontal disease as a risk for dental implant failure over time: a long-term historical cohort study

To evaluate the long-term survival rates of dental implants according to the patient's periodontal status, as well as to estimate if the effect of periodontal status regarding implant failure is constant throughout the long-term follow-up.

This was a historical prospective cohort study design of all consecutive patients operated from 1996 to 2006 at a periodontal clinic. The cohort consisted of 736 patients, with a total of 2336 dental implants. An extended Cox proportional hazards model, which includes interaction terms between survival time and variables of interest, was used.

Patients' mean (SD) age was 51.13 (12.35). The follow-up time was up to 144 months, with a mean (SD) of 54.4 (35.6) months. The overall implant raw survival rate was 95.9%. The Kaplan-Meier estimates for the cumulative survival rate (CSR) at 108 months were 0.96 and 0.95 for implants inserted into healthy and moderate chronic periodontal patients, respectively. The CSR declined to 0.88 at 108 months for the severe periodontitis group. The extended Cox model revealed that severe chronic status turned out to be a significant risk factor for implant failure after 50 months of follow-up [hazard ratio (HR)=8.06; p<0.01]. The extended Cox model for smoking indicates a near-significant effect after 50 months (HR=2.76; p=0.061).

Periodontal status and smoking are significant risk factors for late implant failures. The HR for periodontal and smoking status are not constant throughout the follow-up period.