Additional Treatment Efforts and Cost Beyond Regular Implant Maintenance

When placing dental implants, time and cost beyond regular maintenance for treatment of potential complications need to be addressed.  A recent study from Clinical Dentistry, (November 2024), evaluated this issue following implant treatment with a fixed restoration over a 10-year period.

The study included 64 patients with 97 dental implants with fixed restorations, followed by regular maintenance and implant measurements at loading, 1, 3, 5, 8 and 10 years.

The following results were obtained:

1. Recall rates were 89% at 5 years and 67% at 10 years.
2. Technical complications resulted in 39.5% of these patients, and were resolved in 1-2 appointments
   a.  Screw loosening was the most common technical complication (43.4% of complications).
   b.  Abutment fracture was the most time-consuming complication (94 minutes).
3. Biological complications included:
   a.  Peri-implant mucositis at 30.2%
   b.  Peri-implantitis at 9.3%
   c.   Biological complications required 1 to 3 appointments to treat.
4. The average complication treatment cost was 9.0% of initial implant cost.

The authors concluded that when placing dental implants, patients need to know that there may be additional time and costs beyond regular maintenance to resolve its complications.