Implant Problems in the Dental Emergency Service: A Retrospective Analysis

Objectives: The per-patient number of dental implants is increasing year after year. This study summarises the implant complications that occurred in a university hospital's dental emergency service in a four-year period. Methods: The data of four years (01-01-2010 - 12-31-2013) were analysed retrospectively. In this time period, 16,296 patients sought treatment in the dental emergency service. The Chi-square test was used to detect significances. Results: Out of all 16,296 emergency service patients, 0.6 % (n=94) came due to problems with one or more dental implants. Significantly more women (n=53; 56.4 %) were affected (p=0.023). The median age was 54.5±16.2 years. Implants in the lower jaw were distinctly more often the reason for the visit; the most frequent diagnosis was periimplantitis (31.9%; n=30), followed by damage or loss of the supraconstruction (20.2 %; n=19). 70.2% (n=66) of the affected implants were inserted alio loco versus 25.5% (n=24) in domo. Most complications occurred less than one year after implantation (n=11; 11.8%). Problems due to implants that were in situ more than one year (n=6; 6.5%), more than two years (n=4; 4.2%), or more than three years (n= 1; 1.1%) were less frequent. Conclusions: Problems with dental implants remain a rare reason for visiting the dental emergency service. Periimplantitis rarely leads to pain; nonetheless it was the most common implant problem in our study. The fact that women are affected significantly more often as well as that implants in the lower jaw cause problems significantly more often could be of interest in terms of possible causes. Keywords: Implants, emergency