Literature review 10-08-2001 (our comments in red)

1. Branemark system and ITI dental implant system for treatment of edentulous mandible.  DOWNLOAD. The ITI implant used in this study is no longer available. ITI tries to compare favorably with the "gold standard" - Branemark. Study uses subjective criteria for evaluation and comparison. Both systems have high success rates.
2. Sinus lift procedure. One stage surgery with bone transplant and implants. DOWNLOAD. Studied procedures used illiac crest. Good blood supply but large amount of shrinkage. Crest grafts were block grafts surrounded by particulate matter . . . resulted in sinusitis. Possibly due to voids of uncompacted bone in graft.
3. Implant retained mandibular over-denture with Branemark MkII implant: a prospective comparative study between delayed and immediate loading. DOWNLOAD. 4 implants per patient, bar and clip overdenture. Compared 3- year success rates for immediate placement and 2-stage technique. Results = same success rates (high 90's)
4. Spontaneous early exposure of submersed endosseous implant resulting in crestal bone loss: a clinical evaluation between stage I and stage II surgery. DOWNLOAD. Looked at crestal bone loss at stage 2 (uncovery) with different degrees of exposure during healing phase. Very subjective. Conclusion: if fixture is partially exposed during healing phase, create a full exposure as soon as possible.
5. Influence of patient age on the success rate of dental implants supporting an overdenture in an edentulous mandible: a 3-year prospective study. DOWNLOAD. Success rate the same for young and old patients . . . good argument to present to older patients.
6. A multicenter 12-month evaluation of single-tooth implants restored 3 weeks after one-stage surgery.         DOWNLOAD. Astra implant can be stabilized very rapidly. Studied 53 fixtures in 47 patients. Temporary crown seated 3 weeks after implant placement, final crown 5 weeks later. 96%+ success rate. May be due to porous surface. Clean protocol. (High systemic level of free Ti found with Ti-sprayed surfaces, less with Ti-blasted, none with machined.)
7. A prospective multicenter clinical study of the osseotite implant: 4-year interim report. DOWNLOAD. Study motivated by financial interest, still good protocol and experimental design. Good success rate (but only for 4 years). Study looks at short (< 10 mm) and long (>10mm) implants separately . . . found no difference in success rate. Lowest success rate found in posterior maxilla. Pourous surface of Osseotite seems to work better in the short run.
8. Early implant failures in patients treated with Branemark system titanium dental implants: a retrospective study.   DOWNLOAD. Study does not describe differences, statistics are questionable. Analysis for Bacteroides forsythus or antibody titers may have predictive value. Paper does not distinguish between partially edentulous and fully edentulous cases. Conclusions are not supported.
9. Maxillary overdentures retained by splinted and unsplinted implants: a retrospective study. DOWNLOAD. Small sample size, no criteria for assigning patients to groups . . . poor study design. Questionable quality of prostheses. May be comparing apples to oranges. (Soft-tissue hyperplasia? = no scientific explanation).
10. Peri-implant bone loss: management of a patient. DOWNLOAD. If bone loss is noticed aroud implant, first remove prosthesis. Last resort = lay flap. Usually a prosthetic failure = non-passive fit.
11. The clinical prevalence of microbiologic testing: a comparative analysis of microbiologic samples secured from the same site and cultured in two independent laboratories. DOWNLOAD. Investigators now sampling in "pockets" around teeth with periodontitis. Cultures obtained from pockets were analyzed with DNA probe by two independent laboratories . . . only 9 out of 23 results agreed.