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An Improved Mechanical Testing Method to Assess Bone-implant Anchorage
Published on: February 10, 2014
Immediate loading of trabecular metal-enhanced titanium dental implants: interim results from an international
Marcus Schlee1, W Peter van der Schoor, Alexandra R M van der Schoor
1Private practice in implantology and periodontology, Forchheim, Germany; Department of Oral Surgery, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany.
Objectives:
A 3-year proof-of-principle study was initiated to evaluate the clinical efficacy of immediately loading titanium dental implants with surfaces enhanced with porous tantalum trabecular metal (PTTM). First-year interim results are presented.
Materials And Methods:
Healthy, partially edentulous patients (n = 30) were enrolled and treated per protocol (minimum insertion torque: ≥35 Ncm) with 37 implants placed in one or two premolar or molar locations in either jaw (study group). Implants were immediately provisionalized out of occlusion with single acrylic crowns. After 7 to 14 days of soft tissue healing, implants were definitively restored in occlusion with ceramometal crowns. Because most study group implants (54.1%, n = 20) had less than 1 year of clinical follow-up, this interim analysis was limited to the first 22 consecutively placed implants in 17 subjects (10 women and 7 men) who completed 1 year of clinical follow-up to date (focus group).
Results:
To date, one implant failed to integrate in the study group (survival = 97.3%, n = 36/37). Focus group implants achieved 100% (n = 22/22) survival with 0.43 ± 0.41 mm of mean marginal bone loss. There were no serious complications.
Conclusion:
Early clinical findings indicated that immediate loading of PTTM implants was safe and effective under the controlled study conditions.
