Dental Implants Placed Simultaneously with Bone Grafts in Horizontal Defects: A Clinical Retrospective Study with 37 Patients

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the 1-year success rate and marginal bone loss for dental implants placed simultaneously with bone grafts. Materials and Methods: The study sample comprised 37 patients treated with dental implants placed simultaneous with intraoral block bone grafts. The block grafts were harvested from the chin, retromolar area, or maxillary tuberosity. Complications with the bone grafts were categorized as minor or major and, for the graft success rate, the Barone and Covani criteria were used. The definition of implant success was based on the clinical and radiographic criteria of Albrektsson et al. Peri-implant bone loss was measured after 1 year of prosthetic loading. Results: The study involved 39 bone grafts (17 maxillary and 22 mandibular) and 129 implants (73 implants in grafted areas) in 37 patients. No complications were observed at the donor sites. A part of the onlay bone graft was exposed in eight sites; six sites showed spontaneous reepithelialization following chlorhexidine application, but two grafts became infected and had to be removed. Three implants were lost in the grafted areas; the success rate for implants with simultaneous bone grafting was therefore 95.9%. No complications were found at 12 months after prosthesis placement. The mean overall bone loss after 1 year of loading was 0.64 mm. Conclusion: In patients meeting the inclusion criteria, simultaneous placement of bone grafts and implants shortens treatment time without increasing complications or reducing the success rate. Keywords: alveolar ridge augmentation, bone graft, dental implants, intraoral block bone