Dental implants in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: clinical outcome and peri-implant findings.
OBJECTIVE
Implant prosthodontic treatment outcomes for patients suffering from autoimmune rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with or without concomitant connective tissue diseases (CTD) were evaluated.


METHODS
Thirty-four female patients' (25 isolated RA; nine RA+CTD) implant survival/success rate, peri-implant conditions (marginal bone loss, pocket depth, plaque index, gingiva index and bleeding index) and incidence of prosthodontic maintenance were retrospectively evaluated.


RESULTS
Implants evaluated presented a high implant survival (100%) and a 3.5-year success (93.8%) rate during the follow-up programme (mean 47.6 month) without difference between isolated RA (94.6%) and RA and concomitant CTD (92.3%), respectively. In isolated RA, acceptable marginal bone resorption (mean: 2.1 mm; SD: 0.5 mm), pocket depth (mean: 2.8 mm; SD:3.2 mm) and healthy soft-tissue conditions (plaque/bleeding/gingiva index Grade 0 in 80%) were noticed. However, patients with RA+CTD presented increased bone resorption (mean: 3.1 mm; SD: 0.7 mm) and more vulnerable soft-tissue conditions (higher bleeding index) differing significantly to patients with isolated RA (p<0.01). Peri-implant parameters were significantly influenced by the patients' underlying disease (RA, RA+CTD; Kruskal-Wallis test, Jonckheere-Terpstra test).


CONCLUSIONS
In contrast to isolated RA, in RA patients with concomitant CTD, differences in the peri-implant parameters such as pronounced marginal bone resorption and bleeding may be anticipated and appear to be significantly influenced by the patients' underlying disease.
Krennmair
Gerald
G
Department of Prosthodontics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. krennmair@aon.at
Seemann
Rudolf
R
Piehslinger
Eva
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016301:Alveolar Bone Loss / Q000209:etiology*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases; D003240:Connective Tissue Diseases; D000075202:Contraindications; D017742:Dental Care for Chronically Ill; D003758:Dental Implantation, Endosseous / Q000009:adverse effects; D015921:Dental Implants / Q000009:adverse effects; D019094:Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported / Q000009:adverse effects; D019232:Dental Restoration Failure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D057873:Peri-Implantitis / Q000209:etiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D015921:Dental Implants