One-year clinical and radiographic outcome of Titanium-Zirconium implants in partially edentulous ridges

Objectives: To assess the clinical and radiographic (change in crestal bone level from implant placement to 12 months) outcome of Straumann 3.3 mm Roxolid® Bone Level implants in the treatment of partially edentulous ridges of adequate bone height but limited bucco-lingual and/or mesio-distal distance. Methods: Thirty-one implants were inserted into 21 consecutive patients en-rolled in a non-interventional study and restored with single crowns or two-unit fixed partial dentures. As a part of a non-interventional study, no specific patient inclusion or exclusion criteria were applied to select patients. If their general medical condition was sufficient to allow an oral surgical procedure, if there were no contraindications for dental implant placement and if dental implants were indicated for tooth restoration they were included in the study. Clinical and radiographic examina-tions were carried out immediately after implantation (baseline) and 12 months postoperatively (primary endpoint), periapical standardized digital radiographs were taken to evaluate changes in crestal bone level. Implant success rate (SC), survival rate (SR), peri-implant conditions and pros-thetic complications were assessed as secondary variables. Results: All implants were stable and functional at the 1-year visit and present-ed no prosthetic complications, with a survival rate of 100%, despite 3 cases of peri-implantitis. The mean change in functional bone level after 1 year was -0.53 ± 0.81 mm (-0.50 ± 0.81 mm and -0.56 ± 0.82 mm mesial and distal, re¬spectively). Excluding data related to the peri-implantitis cases, the corrected mean change in functional bone level was -0.33 ± 0.51 mm (-0.29 ± 0.54 mm and 0.36 ± 0.48 mm mesial and distal, respectively). Conclusions: Within the limits of this case series study, the performance of Roxolid® Bone Level implants was safe and reliable in daily practice conditions. This implant seems to be useful for the rehabilitation of narrow ridges, fre-quently avoiding the need for bone regeneration procedures. Keywords: narrow implants, crestal bone level, narrow ridges, titanium-zirconium