Frequency of Smoking and Marginal Bone Loss around Dental Implants: A Retrospective Matched-Control Study

This dental record-based retrospective study aimed to compare the marginal bone loss (MBL) around dental implants in a group of smokers in relation to a matched group of non-smokers, with a special focus on five different frequencies of daily smoking (non-smokers, and frequency of 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, and 20 cig./day). Only implants with a minimum of 36 months of radiological follow-up were considered. Univariate linear regression models were used to compare MBL over time between 12 clinical covariates, after which a linear mixed-effects model was built. After matching of the patients, the study included 340 implants in 104 smokers, and 337 implants in 100 non-smokers. The results suggested that smoking degree (greater MBL for higher degrees of smoking), bruxism (greater MBL for bruxers), jaw (greater MBL in maxilla), prosthesis fixation (greater MBL for screw-retained prosthesis), and implant diameter (greater MBL for 3.75-4.10 mm) had a significant influence on MBL over time. There appears to be a positive correlation between the degree of smoking and the degree of MBL, meaning, the higher the degree of smoking, the greater the MBL. However, the difference is not apparent for different degrees of smoking when this is high, namely above 10 cigarettes per day.