Sinus lift with dental implants: to graft or not to graft

Dilemma

The Scottish Dental Registrars on a recent review of dental implants combined with sinus augmentation (sinus lift): what is the merit of bone grafting?

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Rigid and non-rigid connections between implants and teeth: biological and technical complications.

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Mark-Steven Howe assesses a systematic review looking at the impact of rigid and non-rigid connectors between natural teeth and implants on the biological, functional and/or the prosthetic complication rates. Ten mainly retrospective studies were included providing limited evidence that needs to be interpreted cautiously.

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Complete overdentures retained by mini implants.

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Mark-Steven Howe looks at a review of complete overdentures supported on mini-implants. Although 24 studies are included the majority are small and short term so while good overall overdenture survival was seen the results should be interpreted with caution.

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Mandibular overdentures and impact on oral health

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This review assessed patient satisfaction with mandibular implant overdentures using the Oral Health Impact Profile. Only 5 RCTs were included and findings suggest that implant supported overdentures perform better than conventional dentures.

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Dental Implant survival in patients with aggressive periodontitis

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7 prospective cohort studies were included in this review of dental implant survival in patients with periodontitis. Patients with aggressive periodontitis has statistically significant lower survival rates at 3 years but the quality of the evidence is limited.

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Mandibular implant overdentures: Impact on patient based outcomes.

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Mark-Steven Howe writes his debut blog on an updated review by Kodoma et al on the efficacy of the mandibular 2-implant overdenture.

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Maxillary sinus lift surgery: does grafting improve outcomes?

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This review of maxillary sinus lift procedures prior to implant placement included 16 observational studies. The studies suggest no difference in outcomes with or without the use of graft material.

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Dental Implants: microthreads in crestal area and marginal bone loss.

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This review of the effect of microthreads on marginal bone loss around implants identified 5 small RCTs with relatively short follow up times. While a beneficial effect was noted the clinical relevance will require more high quality studies with longer follow up period to determine.

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Mandibular implant overdentures: effect on nutritional status may be limited

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This review considered the effect of mandibular implant overdentures on the nutrition and nutritional status of older adults. Six small studies were included, overdentures were not seen to have an effect on BMI, albumin or vitamin B12 six months
 after treatment.

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Dental Implants: survival rate in irradiated patients

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40 studies were identified for this review of dental implants in irradiated patients. While survival rates were good, they were lower than in non-irradiated areas. As the majority of the included studies were retrospective the findings should be viewed cautiously.

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