Clinical outcomes of immediate/early loading of dental implants. A literature review of recent controlled prospective clinical studies

Two previous reviews have evaluated the clinical outcomes of immediate/early loading of dental implants based on studies published until 2005.(1,2) The aim of the present paper was to review controlled clinical studies on the subject published since 2005 including at least 10 patients in each group followed for at least one year in function. Six comparative studies were found and none of these showed any differences in survival rates or marginal bone loss after one to five years. Most authors used specified inclusion criteria to avoid known risk factors such as soft bone, short implants and bruxism. Data from one randomized study in the edentulous maxilla showed no differences between early and delayed loading in consecutive clinical routine cases including short implants and soft bone. Three additional studies comparing different surfaces or implant designs under immediate loading were reviewed. No differences between implants with a moderately rough or smooth surface topography were observed. The data add to the previous bulk of evidence that various designs of implants can be loaded shortly after their placement in both the mandible and the maxilla. However, one study reported on marginal bone loss around a novel one-piece implant design leading to implant failure which was not seen for control two-piece implants.(3)