Immediate Vs conventional loading of implants in edentulous patients – a comparison

Abstract

Background: Fixed dentures on dental implants are probably the best prosthesis for edentulous patients, which restores esthetics and function in the best way. While inserting and loading implants, we encounter multiple protocols to follow: not so many years ago it was suggested that in order to avoid failure of osseointegration it was mandatory to wait at least several months before loading them. Nowadays more and more articles show that with modern implantation possibilities it is possible to load them way earlier than before. Objectives: The objective of this review was to compare immediate and conventional loading of implants in several areas. Methods: A systematic literature review was carried out using PubMed and Google Scholar search engines looking for these keywords: edentulous, dental, implant, prosthetics. All reviewed publications were published in the English language. We have filtered the articles according to PRISMA criteria. Results: Out of 201 articles we included 14 in our review. Immediate and conventional loading protocols were evaluated and compared in several areas including patients’ satisfaction level, marginal bone loss and quality of prosthesis. Conclusions: We found no significant difference in loss of marginal bone between our compared protocols. A higher patients’ satisfaction level was reached using immediate loading protocol. A standardized clinical prospective trial is required in order to compare these loading protocols objectively.