A NEW SYSTEM OF IMPLANT ABUTMENT CONNECTION: HOW TO IMPROVE A TWO PIECE IMPLANT SYSTEM SEALING

Abstract

Purpose. Implant dentistry has become one of the most successful dentistry techniques for replacing missing teeth. The success rate of implant dentistry is above 80%. However, peri-implantitis is a later complication of implant dentistry that if untreated, can lead to implant loss. One of the hypotized causes of peri-implantis is the bacterial leakage at the level of implant-abutment connection. Bacterial leakage is favored to the presence of a micro gap at the implant-abutment interface, allowing microorganisms to penetrate and colonize the inner part of the implant leading to biofilm accumulation and consequently to peri-implantitis development. Materials and methods. To identify the capability of the implant to protect the internal space from the external environment, the passage of genetically modified Escherichia coli across implant-abutment interface was evaluated. Implants were immerged in a bacterial culture for twenty-four hours and then bacteria amount was measured inside implant-abutment interface with Real-time PCR. Results. Bacteria were detected inside all studied implants, with a median percentage of 9%. Conclusions. The reported results are better to those of previous studies carried out on different implant systems. Until now, none implant-abutment system has been proven to seal the gap between implant and abutment.