Considerations Regarding Dental Implant Surfaces, Bone Reaction and “Peri-implantitis”

This article explains, based on a long-term observation, the hard-tissue reaction to different endosseous implant surfaces and different implant designs. A patient who had received a full maxillary implant-supported restoration on basal implants and compression screws followed by immediate loading presented no clinical problems at the 20-year follow-up, but the X-ray examination revealed different hard tissue reactions to different implant types. No bone loss was found around lateral basal implants with fully polished vertical aspects, whereas crater-like bone loss was observed around the vertical shafts of implants with a roughened surface and macromechanical retentions. The case seems to indicate that roughened surfaces around the crestal transmucosal aspect of a dental implant may promote vertical bone loss and peri-implantitis.