Does the implant-abutment interface interfere on marginal bone loss? A systematic review and meta-analysis

The objective of this systematic review was to compare the conical internal connection (IC) with the external hexagonal connection (EH) on the occurrence of marginal bone loss ( Δ MBL). Different databases were used to carry out the selection of the elected studies. The studies were judged according to the risk of bias as “ high ” , “ low ” and “ unclear ” risk. For the meta-analysis we included only studies that could extract the data of Δ MBL, survival rate (SR) and probing depth (PD). No statistically significant differences were found for Δ MBL data at one, three- and five-year survival rates between implant connections (p<0.05), however statistically significant differences were found for PD between EH and IC implants (1-year follow-up) -0.53 [95%CI -0.82 to -0.24, p = 0.0004]. This present systematic review demonstrated that there are no significant differences between IC and EH implants for both Δ MBL and SR at 1, 3 e 5 years after functional loading, although better PD values were observed for implants pertaining to the IC connections. Considering the high heterogeneity, more well-delineated, randomized clinical trials should be conducted.
Source: Brazilian Oral Research - Category: Dentistry Source Type: research