Peri-implant Tissue Health and Bone Resorption in Patients with Immediately Loaded, Implant-Supported, Full-Arch Prostheses

Purpose: To evaluate plaque accumulation, peri-implant soft tissue inflammation, and bone resorption in patients with immediately loaded implants supporting fixed full-arch prostheses. Materials and Methods: A convenience sample of 72 patients treated with fixed full-arch prostheses supported by four to six immediately loaded implants was selected. Bleeding on probing (BOP), Plaque Index (PI), and peri-implant bone loss were measured. The Sixth European Workshop on Periodontology definitions of mucositis and peri-implantitis were used, and collected data were analyzed using a nonparametric test (Spearman's rank correlation). Correlation coefficients (rho) were defined as follows: < 0.2 = very weak; 0.2 to 0.39 = weak; 0.4 to 0.59 = moderate; 0.6 to 0.79 = strong; 0.8 to 1.0 = very strong. Results: A total of 331 implants were analyzed. The mean follow-up observation time was 5.8 years (range: 1 to 14 years); mean PI and BOP were 61.7% and 21.1%, respectively; and mean bone loss was 0.89 mm (standard deviation [SD] 1.09). The mean probing depth was 1.8 mm (range: 0.5 to 5 mm). Five patients presented with one implant each affected by peri-implantitis (6.9%), and 15 patients presented with at least one implant affected by mucositis (20.8%). No correlation was found between PI and bone resorption (P = .08). Very weak correlations were found between BOP and bone resorption (rho = 0.18; P = .001) and between PI and BOP (rho = 0.13, P = .019). Conclusion: The results suggest that plaque accumulation is correlated with peri-implant mucositis; however, plaque accumulation alone does not appear to be associated with bone resorption.