Achievement of primary stability during surgical placement of dental implants is one of the most important factors for successful osseointegration depending on various anatomical, surgical and implant-related factors. Resonance frequency analysis (RFA) has been shown as a non-invasive and objective technique for measuring the stability of implants. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of some surgical and implant-related factors in enhancing primary stability and to estimate a correlation between RFA and insertion torque (IT) in proximal regions of cow ribs representing cancellous bone. Fifteen implant beds were prepared in the most proximal region of six fresh cow ribs. Ninety implants with three different shapes and two different diameters were placed with two different surgical techniques, and the primary stability was compared using RFA and IT. Significantly higher RFA and IT values were achieved when under-dimensioned drilling was used as the surgical method (P<0·01); significantly higher IT values were obtained with the use of wider implants (P<0·01) and partially conical Astra Tech implants showed the highest IT values (P<0·01). When all the implants were considered, significant correlations between the IT and RFA values were noted (%40·6, P<0·05). Partially conical implants with a wide diameter to be placed with the modified surgical technique proposed appear to be useful in enhancing the primary stability in cancellous bone.

PURPOSEThe purpose of this clinical study was to evaluate the frequency and type of prosthetic complications in relation to type and properties of removable dentures and to investigate the influence of these complications and several data about the existing dentures on patient satisfaction.MATERIALS AND METHODSNinety nine patients (44 males and 55 females) wearing removable dentures have been included in the study. The complications of the patients were recorded; patient satisfaction was determined with a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and the relationship of complications and patient satisfaction with several data about the dentures such as denture age, type of denture, centric relation and vertical dimension was investigated. Kruskal Wallis, Mann Whitney U and Chi square tests were used for statistical analyses. The results were evaluated statistically at a significance level of P<.05.RESULTSNeed for addition of artificial teeth for dentures with correct centric relations was found to be significantly lower than dentures with wrong centric relations (P<.01). Loss of retention, ulcerations and high vertical dimension affected the VAS chewing ability scores negatively and ulcerations affected the VAS phonation scores negatively (P<.05).CONCLUSIONConsidering the results of this study, it can be concluded that loss of retention, ulcerations and high vertical dimension caused patient dissatisfaction. Additionally, dentures with wrong centric relations caused need for addition of artificial teeth.

Anterior maxilla is more critical for implant loss than other sites. Implants in the anterior mandible show better success compared with other locations, and longer implants show better success rates. The learning curve of the clinician influences survival and success rates of dental implants.

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This study compared two groups of patients who were elderly and edentulous, one group included subjects who had mandibular overdentures supported by two implants (Group I); the other groups wore conventional complete dentures (Group II). This retrospective study included 100 edentulous patients (50 from each group) with an average age of 67.86 years, who had been followed for 4 years. The groups were compared in terms of patient satisfaction, quality of life (QOL), and bite force. The bite force and patient satisfaction scores of Group I were found to be statistically significantly higher than Group II (p < .05). However, no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups' QOL scores (p > .05) except on the physical pain subscale (p = .013). Based on these results, it can be concluded that after 4 years of function, subjects wearing mandibular overdentures supported by two implants had higher values for bite force and patient satisfaction scores, but similar QOL scores when compared to conventional complete denture-wearers.