Is clinical experience important for obtaining the primary stability of dental implants with aggressive threads? An ex vivo study

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinicians’ experience on maintaining the primary stability of implants with aggressive threads belonging to a novel dental implant system. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Three hundred implants with aggressive threads were inserted in fresh bovine ribs mimicking Type IV bone by five clinicians which were classified according to their previous experience of total number of implant insertion. An independent examiner measured the primary stability of all implants after insertion by using resonance frequency analysis (RFA), electronic percussive testing (EPT) and removal torque methods. RESULTS: No significant differences were detected between the stability values measured by the clinicians (p< 0.05) except the Periotest values (PTVs) of the non-experienced clinician. PTVs of the non-experienced clinician were significantly higher than the PTVs of the expert and good clinicians (p >0.05). Significantly higher stability values were detected in the secondary insertion of the non-experienced clinician as compared to her initial insertion values (p >0.05). No significant differences were detected between the first and second measurements of the other clinicians (p< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Within the limitations of this ex-vivo study, it may be concluded that experience does not play an important role in maintaining the stability of implants with aggressive threads. Key words:Implantology, experimental design, osseointegration.