Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify factors that may effect the clinical results of implant treatment. For this purpose, a long-term follow-up survey was conducted on patients who had undergone endosseous implant surgery during the past 22 years. A total of 5,092 implants placed in 2,261 men and women were assessed clinically and analyzed statistically. The results showed that 83.8% to 93.8% of the subjects maintained stability of their implants.
Among factors related to the outcome of the implant surgery, drinking alcohol was found to have an adverse effect on the clinical results. In the subjects who drank and smoked, the survival rate of implants was significantly low. Patients with implants placed in the mandible or completely edentulous jaws, as well as those with anterior or posterior implants, had favorable results. Generally, the patient-outcome assessments were better in women than in men. However, no gender difference was found whatsoever in the patients who had acquired the habits of both drinking and smoking.
These findings suggest that dentists' proper guidance to their patients, depending on sex;careful selection of patients with no underlying diseases, and effort toward the maintenance of healthy lifestyle and improvement of the mode of life on the part of patients, will reduce risks of a poor outcome and serve to result in a high implant survival rate.
