FAILURE PATTERNS OF 4 OSSEOINTEGRATED ORAL IMPLANT SYSTEMS

The aim of th is metanalysis was to investigate possible differences i n failure patterns among four different osseointegrated ora I implant systems. On ly systems with a supposed scientific validation, based on long-term follow-up studies, were selected for this analysis, i.e. th e Branemark system, the Calcitek Integral system, the Interpore IMZ sy stem and the Straumann ITI system. While several prospective reports c ould be found on the Branemark system, only a few retrospective invest igations concerning the ITI and the IMZ systems were available. No dat a on the Integral system could be employed. Despite these limitations, a substantial difference in failure patterns among various implant sy stems was observed. The Branemark implants showed a higher incidence o f early failures, though sharply decreasing over time. On the contrary , IMZ implant characterized by rougher surfaces displayed a lower inci dence of early failures, but showed constant or increased failure rate s over time. For the ITI im pla nts, for example, a higher prevalence of late failures, attributable to chronic bacterial infection (peri-im plantitis), was observed when compared to the Branemark system. With t he exception of the latter implant system, prospective long-term follo w-up studies, using similar and well-defined success criteria, are nee ded for the others to confirm the current preliminary findings.