Long-term radiographic assessment of titanium implants installed in maxillary areas grafted with autogenous bone blocks using two predefined sets of success criteria.

Purpose Assess the radiographic peri-implant bone loss of implants installed in maxillary areas grafted with autogenous bone and classify the long-term (at least >4 <= 6 years) implant success according to two predefined sets of criteria. Material and Methods Sixty patients had full maxillary alveolar reconstructions using autogenous bone grafts (iliac crest), and 369 titanium implants were installed. The follow-up protocol was 5 (>4 <= 6) years; thereafter only patients who presented significant peri-implant bone loss were followed up to 12 years. The radiographic peri-implant bone level was assessed on panoramic radiographs in relation to the baseline and used to classify the long-term success of the implants according to the predefined success criteria presented by Albrektsson and coworkers (ALB; 1986) and the Pisa Consensus Conference (PCC; 2007). Results Fifteen implants were lost over the 12-year follow-up period (two up to >4 <= 6 years). Mean radiographic peri-implant bone loss was 2.7 mm at the >4 <= 6 years control and 4.2 mm after >11 <= 12 years. Different success criteria resulted in different types of prevalence of implants classified as "failures." At >4 <= 6 years, 48% of the implants would be "failures" according to ALB, while according to the PCC, only 0.8% would be "failures" and 18.1% would be classified as "compromised survival" and 44.8% as "satisfactory survival." Conclusions Mean peri-implant bone loss of implants installed in maxillary areas grafted with autogenous bone blocks was 2.7 mm after >4 <= 6 years, and two implants were lost during this period. The use of different success criteria significantly altered the prevalence of implants classified as "failure."