A Proposal of New Classification for Dental Implant Complications

The aims of this study are to review the available literature related to implant complications and propose a new classification method for dental implant complications.

Dental literature was reviewed via PubMed focusing on articles published in English, which included data regarding dental implants, complications, and classification from January 2000 to January 2018. The author, who has experience with implant placement and restorations for 15 years, and ten of his colleagues, formed a list of implant complications that they have encountered in their practices.

After 3,736 articles were found in the initial search, a total of 613 potentially relevant review articles were identified in the database. After the full-text analysis of 25 articles, only 6 review articles with complication classifications were utilized in this study. In addition, a clinically based classification named "Turkyilmaz's Classification of Implant Complications" including three categories was created. Types of complications in these three groups (Mild, Moderate, and Severe) were listed, and some of them were illustrated. Also, recommendations for clinicians were made on how to avoid these problems and/or overcome them.

It has been suggested that categorical data regarding complications of dental implants are limited, and the new complication classification presented in this article may help clinicians identify and overcome commonly encountered implant complications.

For clinicians, it is important to know possible complications regarding dental implants. In this article, a group of dentists created and suggested a new classification for implant complications, which may help clinicians identify commonly encountered complications and how to handle them in the clinic.