Long-term Survival of Dental Implants in the TUSDM Periodontology Clinic

Objectives: The aim of this study was to preliminarily assess the survival of dental implants placed in the postgraduate clinic of periodontology at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine (TUSDM) since 2004.
Methods: An Axium IT query was conducted for records of dental implants placed in the periodontology clinic from 1/1/2004-12/31/2017; 324 records with their most recently available radiographs met inclusion criteria for the study and were reviewed. Implants that were still present in the mouth at the time of the most recent radiograph were represented as “survival”. If an implant was missing, lost, or fractured, it was represented as “failure”. Kaplan Meier method, log rank test, and Cox regression were used for data analysis and significance level was set at 0.05.
Results: The survival of dental implants (n=324) at 1 month was 99.7%, at 6 months 98.2%, at 24 months 96.3%, at 36 months 95.2%, at 60 months 94.3%, and at 120 months 85.9% (See Fig. 1). The mean age of subjects was 66 years (SD=12.8). Implant locations in maxillary posterior (42.6%), mandibular posterior (35.8%), maxillary anterior (11.7%), and mandibular anterior (9.9%) were recorded. The mean length of survival was 64.9 months (SD=36.5). Of the implants that failed, 66% failed due to loss of osseointegration. Other reasons for implant failure included broken abutment, excessive resorption, peri-implantitis, and unknown causes (patient stopped coming to the clinic). Log rank test and Cox regression showed no significant difference of implant survival with respect to age, sex, or implant location.
Conclusions: This preliminary data shows good long-term survival rates of dental implants. More data analysis of existing patients’ records is necessary to further assess long-term implant survival of TUSDM periodontology patients.