Influence of Two Different Approaches to Reporting Implant Survival Outcomes for Five Different Prosthodontic Applications

Background: Over the years, the definition of implant failure has varied, with some investigators accounting for all implants placed, while others discard failures that occurred before clinical loading. The influence of stresses transmitted to various bone densities, by different prosthetic appliances as well as the method used to determine failures, needs to be clearly understood. This paper reports on the influence of two different methods of determining 36-month survival of implants used to support different dental prostheses. Methods: More than 2,900 implants with six different designs were placed in 829 patients at 32 study centers and followed for 3 years. The first method of determining survival accounted for all failures from placement through 36 months, while the second method counted only failures from post-loading of the prosthesis to 36 months. Survival curves were used to determine differences in survival outcomes for the two methods. Results: For the maxillary single-tooth prosthetic applica...