Radiographic peri-implant bone loss after a function time up to 15 years

The aim was to assess the degree of radiographic peri-implant bone loss over a follow-up period up to 15 years. In addition, another aim was to identify risk indicators for peri-implant bone loss and for moderate-severe peri-implantitis at patient- and implant level.

This is a cross-sectional clinical and radiological study of 147 patients with a total of 425 implants in combination with data collected retrospectively for baseline variables. To calculate the peri-implant bone loss (primary outcome variable), the radiographic bone level measurements from baseline were compared to the radiographic bone level measurements at the final radiographic measurement. Multilevel analyses were adopted with peri-implant bone loss and peri-implantitis as outcome variables.

The mean follow-up time was 12.5 years (range 10-15) and the mean age of the patients was 63 years (range 29-83). The mean peri-implant bone loss was 0.94 mm (S.D. 1.3). The prevalence of moderate-severe peri-implantitis at patient level was 17% and 8.9% at implant level. The peri-implant bone loss was significantly more pronounced in healthy implants if moderate-severe peri-implantitis was present in at least one implant within the same patient. The presence of moderate-severe peri-implantitis was significantly associated with general periodontitis Stages III or IV at follow-up and smoking.

The presence of moderate-severe peri-implantitis at patient level was found to be a risk indicator of peri-implant bone loss in healthy implants, while smoking and general periodontitis Stages III and IV were risk indicators of moderate-severe peri-implantitis.