Chronic periodontitis appears to have no bearing on the outcomes of immediate loading of implants, according to a four-year study published in the Journal of Periodontology (August 2010, Vol. 81:8, pp. 1140-1146).
Researchers from San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy, placed a total of 275 implants in extraction sockets in 37 patients: 197 in periodontally infected sites and 78 in noninfected sites. Marginal bone levels and clinical parameters (plaque accumulation and bleeding index) were evaluated at baseline and 12, 24, and 48 months after implant placement.
At 48 months of follow-up, implants in the infected sites had a survival rate of 98.9% because two implants were lost one month after placement, while implants in the noninfected sites had a survival rate of 100%. The marginal bone level was 0.79 ± 0.38 mm for the infected group and 0.78 ± 0.38 mm for the noninfected group, plaque accumulation was 0.72 ± 0.41 for the infected group and 0.71 ± 0.38 for the noninfected group, and the bleeding index was 0.78 ± 0.23 for the infected group and 0.75 ± 0.39 for the noninfected group.
No statistically significant differences were reported between the two groups over time and between time points.
"At 48 months of follow-up, dental implants that were placed and immediately loaded in periodontally infected sockets showed no significant differences compared to implants placed in uninfected sites," the researchers concluded.
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