Dental implant complications and peri-implantitis

The International and American Associations for Dental Research (IADR/AADR) have published in the January issue of the Journal of Dental Research articles that explore new evidence on the biological complications of dental implants and the great challenges associated with predictable implant therapy.

Dental implants have become an important treatment for the replacement of teeth lost due to disease, injury or congenital tooth agenesis. Over the past 30 years, the incorporation of dental implants into everyday clinical dental practice has resulted in major improvements in oral health of patients through enhancements in function, esthetics and phonetics.

"While dental implant therapy remains an important treatment modality to replace missing teeth, these studies also underscore the importance of tooth preservation in patients susceptible to gum infections such as periodontitis. The caution is that careful assessments and treatment planning amongst dental generalists and specialists should be performed to optimize the clinical decision-making for patients receiving advanced reconstructive implant or periodontal therapy," said JDR Editor William Giannobile. "We believe the outcomes of these studies will be beneficial to patient care and oral health."

The erroneous belief of implants yielding a better long-term prognosis than teeth has now clearly been rejected in several comparative studies and systematic reviews. Teeth even compromised because of periodontal disease or endodontic problems may have a longevity that surpasses that of the average implant in many cases.

Some of the articles in the January issue that elaborate on the prevalence of peri-implantitis and risk of dental implant loss include an editorial from Dennis Tarnow on 'Increasing Prevalence of Peri-implantitis-How Will We Manage?'; and another editorial 'Are Dental Implants a Panacea or Should We Better Strive to Save Teeth?', authored by William Giannobile and Klaus Lang; 'Surgical Treatment of Peri-implantitis. A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial' by Olivier Carcuac et al; 'Prevalence of Peri-implantitis' by Jan Derks et al among other papers in this issue.

This issue also includes a freely accessible podcast to the JDR article titled 'Prevalence of Peri-implantitis' of an interview with leading experts in implant therapy by Tord Berglundh of the Sahlgrenska Academy, Department of Periodontology at Gothenburg University, Sweden and Dennis Tarnow of Columbia University in New York, USA. Please visit the JDR website at jdr.sagepub.com/site//misc/Index/Podcasts.xhtml to access the podcast.