Medium- and Long-Term Complications in Full-Arch Rehabilitations Supported by Upright and Tilted Implants

The purpose of this retrospective investigation was to present the incidence of biological and technical complications in patients treated with implant-supported, immediately loaded full-arch restorations.

Clinical data of all patients treated with full-arch, immediately loaded rehabilitations supported by a combination of upright and tilted implants were screened. Data on both technical and biological complications (such as peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis) and their onset and frequency of occurrence were recorded and analyzed.

The clinical records of 86 patients (95 prosthetic rehabilitations) were included in this study. There were 61 mandibular rehabilitations and 34 maxillary ones, all of them immediately loaded within 8 to 48 hours of the surgical intervention. The follow-up time varied from 16.3 to 112 months of function (mean 65.36 months). The most common biological complications were hygiene-related (n = 81; 30.2% of patients displayed peri-implant mucositis and 10.4% peri-implantitis). Among all prosthetic complications, the detachment of an element of the definitive prosthesis was the most frequent event (n = 20; 23.2% of patients). The total number of prosthetic complications was 42. Most complications were reversible and did not affect the overall implant/prosthesis survival rate.

The occurrence in well-maintained patients of technical and biological complications in full-arch rehabilitations supported by a combination of tilted and upright implants in the medium to long term is lower than previously reported by the pertinent literature. Further studies are needed to confirm this result.