Objective: To compare the soft and hard tissue healing and remodeling around tissue‐level implants with different neck configurations after at least 1 year of functional loading.
Material and methods: Eighteen patients with multiple missing teeth in the posterior area received two implants inserted in the same sextant. One test (T) implant with a 1.8 mm turned neck and one control (C) implant with a 2.8 mm turned neck were randomly assigned. All implants were placed transmucosally to the same sink depth of approximately 1.8 mm. Peri‐apical radiographs were obtained using the paralleling technique and digitized. Two investigators blinded to the implant type‐evaluated soft and hard tissue conditions at baseline, 6 months and 1 year after loading.
Results: The mean crestal bone levels and soft tissue parameters were not significantly different between T and C implants at all time points. However, T implants displayed significantly less crestal bone loss than C implants after 1 year. Moreover, a frequency analysis revealed a higher percentage (50%) of T implants with crestal bone levels 1–2 mm below the implant shoulder compared with C implants (5.6%) 1 year after loading.
Conclusion: Implants with a reduced height turned neck of 1.8 mm may, indeed, lower the crestal bone resorption and hence, may maintain higher crestal bone levels than do implants with a 2.8 mm turned neck, when sunk to the same depth. Moreover, several factors other than the vertical positioning of the moderately rough SLA surface may influence crestal bone levels after 1 year of function.
To cite this article:
Tan WC, Lang NP, Schmidlin K, Zwahlen M, Pjetursson BE. The effect of different implant neck configurations on soft and hard tissue healing: a randomized‐controlled clinical trial.
Clin. Oral Impl. Res. 22, 2011; 14–19.
doi: 10.1111/j.1600‐0501.2010.01982.x