Platform Switching and Screw- and Cement-Retained Restorations: Effects on Peri-Implant Tissue Health and Disease

As dental implant therapy has evolved since its early days more than five decades ago, its effects have been mostly extremely positive. However, over the course of time, several undesirable, unanticipated consequences have also materialized, most notably peri-implant disease. In this article, the authors propose that many of the challenges clinicians see today regarding increased peri-implant disease represent negative effects of interventions that, though well-intended, had unforeseen shortcomings. Sufficient time has now passed for these adverse effects to manifest, and clinicians today are better able to understand how their attempts to solve problems in some ways produced new challenges. The article also shows how new innovations in engineering and digital technology allow clinicians to address the problems of the past and avoid increasing the risk of peri-implant disease.