Implant Treatment in the Edentulous Maxillae: A 15‐Year Follow‐Up Study on 76 Consecutive Patients Provided with Fixed Prostheses

Abstract

Implant treatment in the edentulous upper jaw functions well in a 15-year time perspective, but an insignificant trend of higher implant failures was observed for patients lost to follow up. Besides wear and fractures of veneers, no other parameter showed any time-related relationship, indicating an increased risk for more complications during later stages of follow up. However, accumulation of smaller amount of bone loss during the years resulted in an increasing number of implants and patients with bone levels below the third thread, which could be speculated to increase future maintenance after 15 years.