Prevalence of peri-implantitis related to severity of the disease with different degrees of bone loss.

Background: Several measurements are combined to diagnose peri-implant disease, and different thresholds are used to describe the disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of peri-implant disease and to apply different diagnostic thresholds to assess its prevalence in relation to severities of peri-implantitis with different degrees of bone loss.

Methods: A total of 164 subjects with dental implants inserted at the Institute of Clinical Odontology, University of Oslo, between 1990 and 2005, were invited to join the project, and 109 subjects attended the examination (mean age: 43.8 years; range: 18 to 80 years). The mean functional loading time was 8.4 years (SD: 4.6 years). The participants were examined clinically and radiographically. The following aspects of disease were assessed to describe the peri-implant condition: detectable radiographic peri-implant bone loss and inflammation, the presence of bleeding on probing at a probing depth >or=4 or >or=6 mm, and radiographic peri-implant bone loss assessed at >or=2.0 and >or=3.0 mm.

Results: Assessing peri-implantitis at different levels of severity yielded a substantial variance in prevalence (11.3% to 47.1%) in the present study population.

Conclusion: Peri-implant inflammation was a frequent finding with and without peri-implant bone loss.