Zygoma implants in oral rehabilitation: A review of 28 cases

BACKGROUND: The functional and esthetic rehabilitation of patients with atrophic maxilla or posterior maxillary defect is often challenging. The aim of this study was to determine patient demographics, indications, success rate, and complications following the use of zygoma implants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All patients who had zygoma implant placement in our clinic between 1998 and 2013 were retrospectively assessed for implant outcome. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 and Microsoft Excel 2007 test for significance (ρ) using Pearson's Chi-square (χ(2)) set at 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 28 patients consisting of 22 females (78.6%) and 6 males (21.4%) were treated, and their age ranged from 41 years to 83 years with a mean age of 60.3 ± 10.6 years. The main indication for zygoma implant placement was atrophic maxilla 12 (42.9%). In the prosthetic rehabilitation of the patients, 2 had epithetic prostheses, and 2 had obturators while 18 patients had conventional removable dental prostheses. Four patients (14.3%) had perimplantitis and one implant was accidentally placed into the maxillary sinus. A cumulative success rate of 88.1% was obtained from this retrospective analysis. CONCLUSION: A cumulative success rate of 88.1% reported in this study is lower than the reports from other studies. The difference in success rates may be related to different criteria for assessment of zygoma implant success and to the difference in inclusion criteria and follow-up period.