title: Ten-year survival rates of fixed prostheses on four or six implants ad modum Brånemark in full edentulism.
abstract: A series of 156 consecutive fully edentulous patients were rehabilitated by means of fixed prostheses on either 4 or 6 screw-shaped titanium implants. This retrospective study calculated survival rates for both prostheses and individual implants. Only patients with a 10-year follow-up were considered. The implant lengths were 10 (90%) or 7 mm. They were all inserted after pretapping. In the mandible 13 and 59 prostheses were installed on respectively 4 and 6 implants. In the upper jaw the respective numbers were 14 and 70. Both groups (4 versus 6 implants) were age- and gender-matched. A reduced jaw bone volume was the major reason for limiting the number of implants to 4. Although a tendency existed for an increased failure rate in patients with only 4 implants, the survival rate for both individual implants and prostheses was the same in both groups at the end of the 10-year observation period. The present tendency of some clinicians to install as many implants as possible in full edentulism should be seriously questioned.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Applied Biotechnology, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: P I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Brånemark
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Svensson
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van Steenberghe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000044:Dental Abutments; D015921:Dental Implants; D017267:Dental Prosthesis Design; D017268:Dental Prosthesis Retention / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019094:Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015993:Life Tables; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009066:Mouth, Edentulous / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000601:surgery; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D015921:Dental Implants