Prosthetic possibilities using endosseal implants as anchorages--an epidemiological study in 65-year-old subjects

In order to evaluate the possibility of using endosseal implants (ITI Dental Implant System) and implant-retained prostheses for 65-year-old patients from a medium-sized Finnish city, 431 such patients were examined by means of panoramic radiographs. The population represents 61% of the total age group in the city (born in 1923). The possibility to construct a prosthesis, anchored on implants, was evaluated in three different groups. It was shown that in group I (edentulous maxilla and mandible, 256 patients) all male and 97% of female subjects could have been treated with implant-retained over-dentures in the lower jaw. Corresponding figures in the upper jaw were 62% for males and 59% for females. In patients with edentulous maxilla and dentulous or partially edentulous mandible (group II, 84 subjects) implant-retained overdenture in the maxilla could have been possible in 52% of male and 43% of female participants. In subjects with own teeth left in both jaws (group III, 91 participants) some kind of implant-retained bridge or single implants could have been constructed in 70% in maxilla and in 92% in mandible.