Clinical and radiographic evaluation of an implant design featured by parallel wall, tapered apex, internal conical connection and platform shifting- preliminary results

Background As an unstable implant at time of placement has been identified as a major cause of early implant failure, the technical requirements of achieving and maintaining implant stability are important prerequisites for successful clinical outcomes with dental implants. Recently, new implant designs and surfaces have been introduced to decrease the risk of early failure of dental implants Aim/Hypothesis To evaluate the short-term clinical and radiographic efficacy of a novel implant design and to evaluate the relative importance of achieving primary stability at placement over a 36-months period. Material and Methods This retrospective study includes 64 partially or fully edentulous patients treated between June 2014 and September 2017. Outcome measures were- implant and prosthetic failures, peak insertion torque values + biological and mechanical complications, marginal bone loss (MBL)+ sulcus bleeding index (SBI)+ and plaque score (PS). Clinical and radiographic checks were performed as routinely in the office at implant placement, clinical check-up before the permanent prosthesis at 3 months, and at the 6, 12, 24 and 36 months follow-up visits. Results A total of 119 (31 narrow platform 3.75 mm, 68 regular platform - 62 RP 4.3 and 6 RP 5 mm- and 20 wide platform 5.5 mm) NobelParallel Conical Connection implants were placed in both post-extraction sockets and healed sites.28 implant were immediately loaded. The mean insertion torque was 46.09 Ncm. 108 out of 119 implants (90.75%) were inserted with a torque superior to 35 Ncm. Each patient received a single or multiple-unit prosthesis. After n-month of follow-up, only one implant failed (1.19%) in a healed site before prosthesis installation. No other biological or technical complications were observed during this short follow-up. The mean MBL at baseline was +1.23 mm The mean MBL from insertion was −0.51 mm , 5.04% of the implants (n = 6) showed bone loss of more than 1 mm,. All implants showed no bleeding on probing and plaque accumulation was very low (4.20%). Conclusions and Clinical Implications The Nobel Parallel Conical Connection implant can be considered as an effective treatment option for implant placement in the partially or fully edentulous patients over a 36-months period in both jaws. This implant provides high but controlled insertion torques in all bone qualities and appear to be less technique-sensitive than other implant systems because of its parallel apically tapered design and its simple, straight forward and versatile drilling protocol.