Researchers may have uncovered the impact of soft tissue height on crestal bone level changes in bone-level implants.

Crestal bone stability is often a factor that determines the long-term success of dental implants and prevention of peri-implant soft tissue deficiency. Previous studies have demonstrated that peri-implant phenotype and its vertical mucosal height can help indicate the role of tissue height in stabilizing crestal bone levels. For instance, at least 3 mm or more of vertical soft tissue has been shown to maintain crestal bone stability, whereas implants placed in thin tissue may result in crestal bone loss.

In the observational study, published in the Journal of Dentistry, the researchers categorized 59 patients—19 of whom were male and 40 of whom were female—into 3 groups based on their baseline soft tissue height: T1, characterized by thin and soft tissue height of 2 mm or less; T2, characterized by thin height augmented with allogenic tissue matrix; and C, characterized by thick and soft tissue height over 2 mm. They then used a one-stage approach to place bone-level implants with nonmatching internal conical connections in the patients’ posterior mandibles.

After a follow-up of 10 years, the researchers found that the patients in the T2 and C groups demonstrated crestal bone level gains of 0.57 ± 0.55 mm and 0.56 ± 0.40 mm, respectively—up from crestal bone changes of –0.21 ± 0.33 mm to 0.36 ± 0.29 mm and –0.2 ± 0.35 mm to 0.37 ± 0.29 mm—whereas the patients in the T1 group had statistically insignificant crestal bone loss of –0.12 ± 0.41 mm. The changes in the crestal bone levels were found to be greater in the T1 group compared with the T2 and C groups.

The researchers concluded that adequate peri-implant soft tissue height may help maintain stable crestal bone levels and prevent bone loss around bone-level implants.

No conflicts of interest were disclosed.