A 3-Year Retrospective Radiographic Study of Two Tissue-leveled Implants

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the outcome based on radiographic finding of two tissue-leveled implants after 3 years of follow-up.
Methods: Forty-six subjects requiring implant placement in partial dentulous jaws were enrolled in this study. All patients were treated at Division of periodontics, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital. The patients were divided into two groups: Smilea implant placement group (group A), and Staumann implants placement group (group B). Group A consisted of 13 men, 9 women, total 34 implants were inserted; group Bconsisted of 14 men, 10 women, total 46 implants were inserted. Patients with poorly controlled diabetes and other debilitating systemic disease were excluded from the study. Smilea implant (Biotech Dental group, France) , like Straumann implant with morse taper structure. Due to the zirconium ring, it could maintain good esthetics even in mild bone destruction . Intra-oral radiographs were performed with a parallel technique at crown installation, and annual follow-up .The marginal bone height were determined at mesial and distal surface at each implant by measuring the distance between reference pointat implant and marginal bone to implant’s contactlevel using magnifying lens.the reference point at the implant was the most coronal portion of the external micothreading. Paired t-tests were used to test the difference between time intervals and unpaired t-tests were used to test the difference between groups.P<0.05 was taken as statistic significant.
Results: All implants were still in situ after 3 years. The cumulative rate was 100%. No significant difference in implant survival rates were found between Smilea implant group and Straumann implant group, regarding the marginal bone levels. After 3 years the mean marginal bone loss at both side of implant was less than 0.6 mm in both groups.
Conclusions: This 3- year retrospective study demonstrated a 100% implant survival rate. The average marginal bone level change was less than 0.6 mm and there was no different between Smilea implant group and Straumann implant group,