The association between the failure of dental implants and cigarette smoking

Abstract

Although retrospective studies of recent years have dealt with success rates, little time has been spent analyzing the factors involved in implant failures. Smoking has been shown to compromise a patient's healing potential. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the influence of smoking on the failure rate of 2,194 Nobelpharma implants placed in 540 patients by one surgeon over a 6-year period. The authors found an overall failure rate similar to those of previous studies (5.92 percent). After evaluating the patient base, an 11.28 percent failure rate was identified for smokers as opposed to a 4.76 percent failure rate for nonsmokers. Failure rates were consistently higher in smokers for each implant length. A discussion regarding the possible mechanisms for failure in smokers along with proposed cessation guidelines are given.