Dental implant failure rates with low insertion torque with a nonsubmerged surgical approach: A retrospective clinical study

BackgroundIt is currently unclear if a low insertion torque (IT) should prompt a clinician to submerge the dental implant at time of placement. PurposeThis study aimed to analyze implant failure rates and marginal bone loss (MBL) as a function of IT and surgical approach. Materials and MethodsA total of 197 patients who had received 295 Mozo Grau (MG) implants were included in this study. The healing of submerged or nonsubmerged implants was evaluated in regular IT (>= 20-25 Ncm) or low IT (<20-25 Ncm) cases. Implant failure and MBL were evaluated before prosthesis placement and at 6 and 12 months after functional loading with generalized estimating equations. ResultsThe overall 12-month implant failure rate was 4.8% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.7%-8.2%). When successful at 12 months, dental implants placed with low IT and nonsubmerging had the same MBL as implants dental implants placed with other approaches (mean difference = -0.02 mm; 95% CI -0.05 to 0.02). Low IT combined with nonsubmerging of the dental implant was associated with a 30-fold increased odds for dental implant failure (95% CI: 3.8-236.6). Conclusionlow IT and nonsubmerged healing was associated with a high failure rate.