Impact of Smoking on Human Bone Apposition at Different Dental Implant Surfaces: A Histologic Study in Type IV Bone

Smoking has adverse effects on pen-implant bone healing and can cause bone loss around successfully integrated implants placed on type IV bone. This study evaluated the influence of implant surface topography of microimplants retrieved from posterior maxilla of smokers after 2 months of unloaded healing. Seven partially edentulous patients received 2 microimplants (machined and sandblasted acid-etched surface) each during conventional implant surgery. Histometric evaluation showed that the mean bone to implant contact was 10.40 +/- 14.16% and 22.19 +/- 14.68% to machined and sandblasted acid-etched surfaces, respectively (P < .001). These data suggest that the sandblasted acid-etched surface presented better results than the machined surface after a short healing time in smokers.