Five-Year Survival of Short Single-Tooth Implants (6 mm): A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether 6-mm dental implants in the posterior segments of either jaw perform equally well in terms of clinical and radiographic outcomes when compared with 10-mm implants after 5 y of loading. Patients with single-tooth gaps in the posterior area who were scheduled for implant therapy were randomly assigned to a group receiving either a 6- or 10-mm implant. After a healing period of 10 wk, implants were loaded with a screw-retained single crown and followed up at yearly intervals. Of 96 patients, 86 could be recalled after 5 y. The implant survival rates amounted to 91% (95% confidence interval: 0.836 to 0.998) for the 6-mm group and 100% for the 10-mm group ( P = 0.036). Median crown-to-implant (C/I) ratios were 1.75 (interquartile range [IQR], 1.50 to 1.90) for the 6-mm group and 1.04 (IQR, 0.95 to 1.15) for the 10-mm group, whereas the median marginal bone levels measured -0.29 mm (IQR, -0.92 to 0.23) for the 6-mm group and -0.15 mm (IQR: -0.93 - 0.41) for the 10-mm group after 5 y. The C/I ratio turned out to be statistically significant ( P < 0.001), whereas marginal bone levels showed no significant difference between the groups. The 6-mm implants exhibited significantly lower survival rates than the 10-mm implants over 5 y, whereas there was no difference between upper and lower jaws in terms of survival ( P = 0.58). Lost implants did not show any sign of marginal bone loss or peri-implant infection previous to loss of osseointegration. High C/I ratio and implant length had no significant effect on marginal bone level changes or technical and biological complications (German Clinical Trials Registry: DRKS00006290)

Salivary biomarkers for dental caries detection and personalized monitoring

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.This study investigated the potential of salivary bacterial and protein markers for evaluating the disease status in healthy individuals or patients with gingivitis or caries. Saliva samples from caries-and gingivitis-free individuals (n = 18), patients with gingivitis (n = 17), or patients with deep caries lesions (n = 38) were collected and analyzed for 44 candidate biomarkers (cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, matrix metalloproteinases, a metallopeptidase inhibitor, proteolytic enzymes, and selected oral bacteria). The resulting data were subjected to principal component analysis and used as a training set for random forest (RF) modeling. This computational analysis revealed four biomarkers (IL-4, IL-13, IL-2-RA, and eotaxin/CCL11) to be of high importance for the correct depiction of caries in 37 of 38 patients. The RF model was then used to classify 10 subjects (five caries-/gingivitis-free and five with caries), who were followed over a period of six months. The results were compared to the clinical assessments of dental specialists, revealing a high correlation between the RF prediction and the clinical classification. Due to the superior sensitivity of the RF model, there was a divergence in the prediction of two caries and four caries-/gingivitis-free subjects. These findings suggest IL-4, IL-13, IL-2-RA, and eotaxin/CCL11 as potential salivary biomarkers for identifying noninvasive caries. Furthermore, we suggest a potential association between JAK/STAT signaling and dental caries onset and progression