Retrospective Clinical Evaluation of Implant-supported Single Crowns: Mean Follow-up of 15 years

Objective: To retrospectively assess the clinical outcomes of implant-supported single crowns and the supporting implants.

Material And Methods: This retrospective study included all patients treated with implant-supported single crowns at one specialist clinic. Implant and prosthesis failure, and mechanical/technical complications (ceramic fracture/chipping; crown loss of retention/mobility; crown failure/fracture; loosening/loss/fracture of prosthetic screw; and implant failure/fracture) were the outcomes analyzed. Any condition/situation that led to the removal/replacement of crowns was considered prosthesis failure.

Results: A total of 438 patients with 567 crowns were included. Mean ± SD follow-up of 183.4 ± 69.3 months. A total of 37 implants (6.5%) and 54 crowns (9.5%) failed. If only technical problems were considered, the crown failure rate decreased to 4.1% (23/567). Most common reasons for crown failure: esthetic issue (n = 12), crown constantly mobile (n = 9), change to another type of prosthesis together with other implants (n = 8), crown fracture (n = 7), and crown in infraposition in comparison with adjacent teeth (n = 7). The odds of crown failure were shown to be statistically significantly higher for the following factors: younger patients, maxillary crowns, and screw-retained crowns. Loose prosthetic screw was much more prevalent in screw-retained than in cemented crowns. Ceramic fracture/chipping was more prevalent in screw-retained crowns, maxillae, females. Crown fracture was more prevalent in ceramic crowns, screw-retained crowns, maxillae, posterior region, females. However, these differences were statistically significant only for crown fractures in females.

Conclusions: The odds of crown failure were significant for some factors, but one must keep in mind that non-technical complications are as common as technical ones as reasons for the replacement of implant-supported single crowns.