“The Effect of Platform Switching on Alveolar Crestal Bone Level – A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Dental implants have become the most common restorative technique for rehabilitation of edentulism. The stability of the crestal bone is believed to be a key factor for maintaining stable soft tissue dimension with direct inuence on aesthetics. The concept of “platform switching” explains the use of a smaller-diameter abutment on a larger-diameter implant collar. This may decrease the risk of bone loss around implants. Aim: To analyze the effect of platform switching on alveolar crestal bone level. Materials and methods: An electronic database search for randomized controlled trials, clinical trials, prospective studies and retrospective studies published in peer-reviewed Journals in English was conducted from the following databases: PubMed, EBSCOhost, EMBASE and Google Scholar. Results: A total 248 articles were identied on electronic database. Eleven studies were included for the qualitative synthesis. Out of the 11 studies, 8 were randomized controlled clinical trials, 1 was a clinical trial, 1 was a prospective study and 1 was a retrospective study. All the included studies suggested that platform switching has signicant effect on alveolar crestal bone level. Conclusion: The platform-switched implants remained stable over the course of 10 years and had an overall survival rate of 97.1%. From the present systematic review, based on the articles that were included in this study, it can be concluded that platform switching technique has signicant reduction in alveolar crestal bone level as compared to platform matched technique.