Evidence for Maxillary Implant Overdentures

Abstract

While there is a definitive consensus on 2-IOD for edentulous mandible patients, there is still no definitive consensus on implant overdentures for edentulous maxillary patients. There have been very few clinical studies on maxillary IODs, but early publications from 1997 to 2009 show a trend of low survival rates, ranging from 61 to 84％. Since 2013, RCT studies have started to be published, and there have been reports of RCT studies comparing 4-IOD and 6-IOD. However, there were no significant differences in outcomes. Since 2019, clinical study reports have also been published that compared connected implants and unconnected implants, but again, no significant differences were reported. Therefore, it is considered that four standard implants are the standard for maxillary IODs, and that although there is no significant difference between connected and unconnected implants in the case of upper and lower edentulous jaws, it is more likely that connected implants are preferable when the opposite teeth are natural or in a fixed prosthesis. Further evidence for maxillary IARPD needs to be accumulated.