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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2021 May;48(5):721-733.
doi: 10.1111/jcpe.13411. Epub 2021 Apr 4.

Clinical and histological comparison of the soft tissue morphology between zirconia and titanium dental implants under healthy and experimental mucositis conditions-A randomized controlled clinical trial

Stefan P Bienz  1 , Monika Hilbe  2 , Jürg Hüsler  1 , Daniel S Thoma  1   3 , Christoph H F Hämmerle  1 , Ronald E Jung  1
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Free article
Randomized Controlled Trial

Clinical and histological comparison of the soft tissue morphology between zirconia and titanium dental implants under healthy and experimental mucositis conditions-A randomized controlled clinical trial

Stefan P Bienz et al. J Clin Periodontol. 2021 May.
Free article

Abstract

Objectives: To analyse the soft tissue morphology under healthy and experimental mucositis conditions comparing zirconia and titanium implants.

Methods: Forty-two patients with two adjacent missing teeth received one zirconia (Zr) and one titanium (Ti) implant, with the mesial and distal position randomized. At 3 months, half of the patients were instructed to continue (healthy; h) and the other half to omit (experimental mucositis; m) oral hygiene around the implants for 3 weeks. Clinical parameters were evaluated before and after the experimental phase, and a soft tissue biopsy was harvested. Mixed model analyses were performed to analyse the data.

Results: The plaque control record increased significantly for the two mucositis groups, reaching 68.3 ± 31.9% (mean ± SD) for Zr-m and 75.0 ± 29.4% for Ti-m (p < .0001), being also significantly lower for Zr-m than for Ti-m. Bleeding on probing remained stable in group Zr-m and amounted to 21.7 ± 23.6%, but increased significantly in group Ti-m (p = .040), measuring 32.5 ± 27.8%. The number of inflammatory cells and the length of the junctional epithelium did not significantly differ between the groups.

Conclusion: Both implants rendered similar outcomes under healthy conditions. Lower plaque and bleeding scores were detected for zirconia implants under experimental mucositis conditions. Histologically, only minimal differences were observed.

Keywords: histology; histomorphometry; mucositis; peri-implant soft tissue; zirconia implant.

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References

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