Biological complications may lead to higher rates of abutment loss than technical complications regardless of type of abutment, finds study

Tooth- and implant-supported fixed dental prostheses are well-documented and aesthetic treatment alternatives, and after a comprehensive periodontal treatment, a protocol with a good long-term prognosis if the maintenance program is strictly followed. A study was done to reexamine a pre-existing patient cohort in order to obtain estimated long-term survival and complication outcomes of fixed dental prostheses. For this study, patients treated with fixed dental prostheses between 1978 and 2002 were reexamined between 2019 and 2020.

The restorations were divided in single crowns and fixed dental prostheses supported by teeth (TSC, FPTDP) and implants (ISC, FPIDP). Survival and complication rates were obtained. Kaplan–Meier functions were used to model complication probabilities, and average hazard ratios of different strata were compared using weighted Cox regression. Results: The mean observation time of 40 patients and 223 reconstructions was 20.3 (±9.7, 1.2–36.2) years. The estimated survival rates were 84% (CI: 77%–92%) for TSC, 63% (CI: 51%–79%) for FPTDP, 87% (CI: 71%–100%) for ISC, and 64% (CI: 34%–100%) for FPIDP after 25 years.

Biological complications included carious lesions (10.6%), periodontitis (7.9%), and peri-implantitis (6.8%). Technical complications included chipping (20.2%) and loss of retention (10.8%). Biological complications lead to abutment loss in more than two-thirds of cases, regardless of the type of abutment (tooth or implant). Technical complications are less associated with abutment loss than biological complications.

Reference:

Bischof, F. M., Mathey, A. A., Stähli, A., Salvi, G. E., & Brägger, U. (2024). Survival and complication rates of tooth- and implant-supported restorations after an observation period up to 36 years. Clinical Oral Implants Research, 00, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/clr.14351