Soft tissues around long-term platform switching implant restorations: a histological human evaluation. Preliminary results.
BACKGROUND
Switching platform restorations seems to reduce the peri-implant bone resorption and to preserve the peri-implant soft tissues.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of the present human study was to compare histologically the peri-implant soft tissue in switching and traditional platform implants 4 years after restoration.


METHODS
Forty-eight months after implant restoration, 37 peri-implant soft tissue samples from 14 patients were harvested from traditionally restored implants (control group) and from three different platforms mismatching 0.25-0.85 mm (test groups). At the harvesting time, all sites were clinically healthy. Samples were processed to evaluate the inflammatory infiltrate area [inflamed connective tissue (ICT)], the microvascular density (MVD) and the collagen content (AA%).


RESULTS
At the analyses, no significant differences were found between groups in terms of ICT, MVD and AA% (p>0.05). In all groups, most samples with a well-preserved junctional epithelium showed a small and localized inflammatory infiltrated associated with not-well-oriented collagen fibres and an increased MVD.


CONCLUSIONS
Forty-eight months after restoration, switching and traditional platform implants had similar histological peri-implant soft tissue features, despite different bone level changes detected radiographically and published in a previous parent study. The present study seems to confirm platform switching as a safe prosthetic concept leading to better maintenance of peri-implant bone levels. However, further histological studies are required to longitudinally confirm the present data.
luigicanullo@yahoo.com
Luigi
L
Canullo
Gaia
G
Pellegrini
Cristina
C
Allievi
Leonardo
L
Trombelli
Susanna
S
Annibali
Claudia
C
Dellavia
D016301:Alveolar Bone Loss / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003094:Collagen; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000098:blood supply / Q000737:chemistry; D000044:Dental Abutments; D003758:Dental Implantation, Endosseous / Q000379:methods; D015921:Dental Implants; D017267:Dental Prosthesis Design; D005889:Gingival Recession / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000517:prevention & control; D008875:Middle Aged; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic; D010512:Periodontal Index; D019408:Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000032:analysis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D015921:Dental Implants; D019408:Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1; D003094:Collagen