Implants in the pterygoid region: An updated systematic review of modern roughened surface implants

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the survival rates of modern roughened surface dental implants in the pterygoid region.

Methods: This systematic review was an update from a previously published systematic review in 2011, which largely reported data on older machined surface dental implants. An electronic search for articles in the English language literature published from January 1, 2010 to December 8, 2021 was performed using PubMed, Scopus, and CENTRAL search engines. After applying a systematic search process in three stages, the final list of selected articles on roughened surface pterygoid implants was obtained. Data from the selected articles were collated with data from pertinent articles on roughened implant surface from the previous systematic review. The combined data were then used for calculating the interval survival rate and cumulative survival rate (CSR) of pterygoid implants.

Results: The initial electronic search resulted in 1263 titles. The systematic search process eventually resulted in 10 clinical studies reporting on modern roughened surface pterygoid implants. These 10 studies reported on a total of 911 pterygoid implants with 39 reported failures over a 6-year period. The majority of failures (37) were reported during the first year time interval and a majority of them (30) occurred before loading of the pterygoid implants. Only two late failures were reported after loading, during the sixth-year time interval. The majority of implants were used for rehabilitation of full-arch fixed implant-supported prosthesis. At the maximum follow-up interval of 6 years, the CSR of pterygoid implants with roughened surfaces was 95.5%, which was 5% higher than reported in the previous systematic review which combined machined and roughed surface pterygoid implants.

Conclusions: The survival rate of modern roughened surface dental implants in the pterygoid region is favorable at 95.5% over a 6-year period, and comparable to the existing evidence on survival of implants in other regions of the maxilla and mandible.

Keywords: implant survival; maxillary implants; posterior maxillary implants; pterygoid implants; roughened surface implants.