Is the implant-retained overdenture a solution to improve the patient quality of life?

Design The research was a retrospective cohort study evaluating a study which performed routine control sessions to assess bone loss around the dental implant over five years and 12 and 24 months, after their prosthetic restorations. Aim The study aimed to evaluate patients' dental implant marginal bone loss after oral rehabilitation with bar and locator retainers and their possible complications. Methods A study of 114 patients who had received 283 dental implants from 2013-2018 was conducted. Two follow-up recall sessions were conducted, one at 12 months and one at 24 months, after dentures were placed. Intraoral and extraoral examinations were also conducted in addition to clinical assessments. The patients' prostheses were assessed for occlusion, tissue health and soft-tissue continuity, complaints, implant success rates and marginal bone loss, in addition to prosthetic complications, at follow-up sessions. Results In this study, 94 patients were fitted with implant-supported removable prostheses on locator attachments on both arches and 20 were fitted with removable prostheses using bar attachments. After evaluating the location of the implant, the number of days after implantation and the type of retainer in all patients, both groups showed a significant amount of marginal bone loss in the 12th and 24th months. The presence of complications was significantly associated with both prosthesis types at month 24 (p >0.05). When the relation between the position of the denture and the presence of complications at month 12 was evaluated, 36% of the complications were observed in the maxilla and 21.3% in the mandible. There was no significant difference associated between denture location and complication presence at month 24 (p >0.05). Conclusions Even though complications do not affect marginal bone loss, a patient's failure to maintain adequate oral hygiene results in marginal bone loss. Therefore, it appears that regular post-treatment prosthesis inspections are essential. If the requirements resulting from these inspections are satisfied, future complications may be prevented.