Long‐term implant survival and success: a 10–16‐year follow‐up of non‐submerged dental implants

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the long‐term results of dental implants using implant survival and implant success as outcome variables. Methods: Of the 76 patients who received 162 implants of the Straumann Dental Implant System during the years 1990–1997, 55 patients with 131 implants were recalled 10–16 years after implant placement for a complete clinical and radiographic examination, followed by a questionnaire that examined the degree of satisfaction. The incidence of biological and technical complications has been carefully analysed for each implant. Success was defined as being free of all these complications over the entire observation period. Associated factors related to peri‐implant lesions were analysed for each implant. Results: The long‐term implant cumulative survival rate up to 16 years was 82.94%. The prevalence of biological complications was 16.94% and the prevalence of technical complications was 31.09%. The cumulative complication rate after an observation period of 10–16 years was 48.03%, which meant that substantial amounts of chair time were necessary following implant placement. The majority of implant losses and biological complications were concentrated in a relatively small number of patients. Conclusion: Despite a relatively high long‐term survival rate, biological and technical complications were frequent. Patients with a history of periodontitis may have lower implant survival rates than patients without a history of periodontitis and were more prone to biological complications such as peri‐implant mucositis and peri‐implantitis. To cite this article :
Simonis P, Dufour T, Tenenbaum H. Long‐term implant survival and success: a 10–16‐year follow‐up of non‐submerged dental implants.
Clin. Oral Impl. Res. 21 , 2010; 772–777
doi: 10.1111/j.1600‐0501.2010.01912.x     

Kostmann syndrome: oral aspects and 10‐year follow‐up case report

Kostmann syndrome (KS) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by a low neutrophil count and recurrent bacterial infections, including periodontal disease. This report describes the case of a 5‐year‐old female KS patient treated with regular infusions of granulocyte stimulating factor (granulokine), with primary complaint of gingival bleeding and tooth mobility, and followed up for 10 years. Conventional periodontal treatment and some extractions were performed, after neutrophil function tests using flow cytometry. The invasive procedures were carried out at an outpatient clinic under antibiotic prophylaxis due to a low neutrophil count and an impaired neutrophil function presented. During the 10‐year follow‐up period, despite episodes of recurrent gingivitis and periodontitis the present report describes the positive outcome of dental treatment of a patient with KS.     

Commentary on the article ‘Understanding Muslim patients: cross‐sectional dental hygiene care’

I have read with interest the article ‘‘Understanding Muslim patients: cross‐sectional dental hygiene care’’ by ML Sirois et al. In the time that I see their article as a faithful, unbiased image showing a Muslim's religious life and conduct from the oral and systemic health perspective, I still have two main concerns about certain facts which were denoted with imprecise connotations. These are related to food and Ramadan fasting.     

The effectiveness of an individually tailored oral health educational programme on oral hygiene behaviour in patients with periodontal disease: a blinded randomized‐controlled clinical trial (one‐year follow‐up)

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of an individually tailored oral health educational programme for oral hygiene self‐care in patients with chronic periodontitis compared with the standard treatment. Material and Method: A randomized, evaluator‐blinded, controlled trial with two different active treatments were used with 113 subjects (60 females and 53 males) randomly allocated to an experimental or a control group. The individually tailored oral health educational programme was based on cognitive behavioural principles and the individual tailoring for each participant was based on participants' thoughts, intermediate, and long‐term goals, and oral health status. The effect of the programmes on gingivitis [gingival index (GI)], oral hygiene [plaque indices (PlI) and self‐report], and participants' global rating of treatment was evaluated 3 and 12months after oral health education and non‐surgical treatment. Results: Between baseline and the 12‐month follow‐up, the experimental group improved both GI and PlI more than the control group. The mean gain‐score difference was 0.27 for global GI [99.2% confidence interval (CI): 0.16–0.39, p<0.001] and 0.40 for proximal GI (99.2% CI: 0.27–0.53, p<0.001). The mean gain‐score difference was 0.16 for global PlI (99.2% CI: 0.03–0.30, p=0.001), and 0.26 for proximal PlI (99.2% CI: 0.10–0.43, p<0.001). The subjects in the experimental group reported a higher frequency of daily inter‐dental cleaning and were more certain that they could maintain the attained level of behaviour change. Conclusion: The individually tailored oral health educational programme was efficacious in improving long‐term adherence to oral hygiene in periodontal treatment. The largest difference was for interproximal surfaces.     

Essential health care package for children ‐ the ‘Fit for School’ program in the Philippines

High prevalence of poverty diseases such as diarrhoea, respiratory tract infection, parasitic infections and dental caries among children in the developing world calls for a return to primary health care principles with a focus on prevention. The ‘Fit for School’ program in the Philippines is based on international recommendations and offers a feasible, low‐cost and realistic strategy using the principles of health promotion outlined in the Ottawa Charter. The cornerstone of the programme is the use of school structures for the implementation of preventive health strategies. ‘Fit for School’ consists of simple, evidence‐based interventions like hand washing with soap, tooth brushing with fluoride toothpaste and other high impact interventions such as bi‐annual de‐worming as a routine school activity for all children visiting public elementary schools. The programme has been successfully rolled‐out in the Philippines covering 630,000 children in 22 provinces and it is planned to reach 6 million children in the next three years. The programme is a partnership project between the Philippine Department of Education and the Local Government Units with support for capacity development activities from the German Development Cooperation and GlaxoSmithKline.