| INTRODUC TI ONDental implant therapy is a well-established dental treatment modality that provides benefits for edentulous and partially edentulous patients. Edentulism is a toothless condition that affects well-being and life quality. Although the prevalence of complete tooth loss has declined since 2002, edentulism remains a major disease worldwide, especially among older adults. 1 According to several studies, tooth loss can affect general health in a number of ways owing to reduced intake of a vitamin-rich diet. 2 Also, it has been demonstrated that the dentition status can impact the healthy eating index score and overall diet quality. 3 Edentulism is significantly associated with depression and poor self-rated health in patients younger than 50 years. 4 Furthermore, in a recent systematic review that evaluated mortality and the rehabilitation of edentulism, a possible relationship was found between death rate and edentulousness, in that death rate was higher among edentulous patients not using dentures compared with denture wearers. 5 Therefore, oral health-care providers should prevent tooth loss with proper dental education and improved treatment quality to rehabilitate the edentulous and partially edentulous patients and reestablish proper masticatory function.Dental implants are a valuable treatment option for improving oral health and quality of life, especially for completely edentulous patients. 6 However, dental implants can fail at different points in time, starting from the moment when they are inserted. Based on the time when the failure occurred and the time of loading, early and late failures have been described. 7 However, implant therapy also can present complications, which do not necessarily lead to implant failure.Therefore, the aim of this volume of Periodontology 2000 is to present an overview on the causes of various types of complications related to implant therapy and to provide the practitioner with clinical concepts on their prevention and management.
| BONE DYNAMI C AC TIVIT Y FROM TIME OF IMPL ANT PL ACEMENTThe dental implant treatment process starts with comprehensive planning, followed by surgical management of the alveolar bone to prepare it to receive primary (mechanically) stable implant(s) and implant restoration(s) that are resistant to occlusal loads and meet the functional and esthetic demands of patients. However, complications (biological, surgical, or prosthetic) may be encountered. During surgery, strong dynamic and active processes are present in peri-implant tissues, which are induced by trauma during flap and periosteum elevation at the time of implant insertion and the response of the surrounding tissues to the implant material (ie, titanium). The peri-implant bone density is altered (modified) as a result of bone removal (osteotomy) and subsequent bone condensation (ie, through the use of osteotomes or osseodensification, or undersizing of the osteotomy), and bone density continues to improve by stimulating the surrounding bone using functional loading. This st...