J Dent Rehabil Appl Sci.  2022 Mar;38(1):9-17. 10.14368/jdras.2022.38.1.9.

Effect of open proximal contact on adjacent tooth and implant

• Moon S
• Kim G
• Cho S
• Song J
• Kim HJ

• KMID: 2534982
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.14368/jdras.2022.38.1.9

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate how open contacts impact the natural teeth and dental implant prostheses.
Materials and Methods
Following criteria were used to select 20 implant crowns with open proximal contacts as the experimental group (Group A): the restorations were delivered in Chosun University Dental Hospital between 2008 and 2018, the restorations are in the posterior region, opposing teeth are fixed dental prostheses, neighboring teeth are sound natural teeth, the patient had been on the maintenance program for at least 3 years. Another 20 implant crowns with closed proximal contacts were selected as the control group (Group B) using the same criteria. Between the two groups, dental caries and food impaction of the neighboring natural teeth and marginal bone-loss of the implants were compared and evaluated.
Results
There was no statistically significant difference between Group A and Group B in the occurrence rates of dental caries, food impaction, and marginal bone-loss. The amount of marginal bone-loss, however, revealed statistically significant differences between the two groups, with Group A showing 0.80 ± 0.39 mm loss and Group B showing 1.1 ± 0.43 mm loss.
Conclusion
Implant prostheses with open contacts could be clinically considered in select cases as such restorations revealed no harmful effects on neighboring teeth and implant restorations within the perimeters of this study.

Keyword

open proximal contact; food impaction; marginal bone loss