title: Systematic review of the survival rate and incidence of biologic, technical, and esthetic complications of single implant abutments supporting fixed prostheses.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the 5-year survival rate and number of technical, biologic, and esthetic complications involving implant abutments.
  
  
  METHODS
  Electronic (Medline) and hand searches were performed to assess studies on metal and ceramic implant abutments. Relevant data from a previous review were included. Two reviewers independently extracted the data. Failure and complication rates were analyzed, and estimates of 5-year survival proportions were calculated from the relationship between event rate and survival function. Multivariable robust Poisson regression was used to compare abutment characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The search yielded 1,558 titles and 274 abstracts. Twenty-four studies were selected for data analysis. The survival rate for ceramic abutments was 97.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]): 89.6% to 99.4%) and 97.6% (95% CI: 96.2% to 98.5%) for metal abutments. The overall 5-year rate for technical complications was 11.8% (95% CI: 8.5% to 16.3%), 8.9% (95% CI: 4.3% to 17.7%) for ceramic and 12.0% (95% CI: 8.5% to 16.8%) for metal abutments. Biologic complications occurred with an overall rate of 6.4% (95% CI: 3.3% to 12.0%), 10.4% (95% CI: 1.9% to 46.7%) for ceramic, and 6.1% (95% CI: 3.1% to 12.0%) for metal abutments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present meta-analysis on single-implant prostheses presents high survival rates of single implants, abutments, and prostheses after 5 years of function. No differences were found for the survival and failure rates of ceramic and metal abutments. No significant differences were found for technical, biologic, and esthetic complications of internally and externally connected abutments.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zembic
authors.forename: Sunjai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zwahlen
authors.forename: J Robert
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Kelly
mesh_terms: D002516:Ceramics / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D000044:Dental Abutments / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003722:Dental Alloys / Q000009:adverse effects*; D019250:Dental Implants, Single-Tooth / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019094:Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019232:Dental Restoration Failure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004955:Esthetics, Dental; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D003722:Dental Alloys