Researchers have found that less bone loss is experienced in an oral implant when a 2-stage approach to surgery is used. Simultaneously inserted implants, which require one operation to transplant bone tissue and to insert implants, have shown excellent results. However, when the implants were inserted in a second operation about 6 months after the bone tissue grafts, crestal bone loss was reduced. A retrospective study compared simultaneously inserted implants with delayed implants. In cases where there was not enough bone tissue to anchor the implant, freeze-dried bone was used as the graft material. The study examined 81 patients with a median age of 52 years, treated between December 2003 and December 2006; 17 patients received grafts and 48 implants in a simultaneous operation, and 64 patients received a total of 302 implants in a second operation within a mean of 6 months following their graft surgeries. Examination of crestal bone resorption around the implant’s neck and specific cutoff values showed the delayed implant procedure to have better clinical outcomes by allowing less bone loss. This is important because bone quality of the host (patient) is considered to be a strong predictor for the outcome of the implants.
(Source: Journal of Oral Implantology news release, June 3, 2010)
