Circumferential bone loss around splinted and nonsplinted immediately loaded implants retaining mandibular overdentures: A randomized controlled clinical trial using cone beam computed tomography

Abstract Statement of problem Circumferential marginal bone around 2 splinted and nonsplinted immediately loaded implants in the edentulous mandible has not been previously investigated. Purpose The purpose of this randomized controlled clinical trial was to assess circumferential bone loss around splinted and nonsplinted immediately loaded implants retaining mandibular overdentures, using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). Material and methods Thirty completely edentulous participants were allocated to 2 groups and received 2 implants in the canine region of the mandible. Implants were either left nonsplinted (with ball attachment [BA]) or splinted (with bar attachment [RA]). Mandibular overdentures were connected to the implants 1 week later. CBCT was used to evaluate vertical bone loss (VBL) and horizontal bone loss (HBLo) bone loss at the distal (D), buccal (B), mesial (M), and lingual (L) sites of each implant upon overdenture insertion (baseline, T0), 1 year (T1) and 3 years (T3) after insertion. Repeated measures ANOVA was used for statistical analysis (α=.05). Results No significant difference in the survival rate (93.3% for BA and 100% for RA) was found between groups ( P =.156). VBL and HBLo increased significantly at T3 compared with T1 for both groups (P