Implant rehabilitation in grafted and native bone in patients affected by ectodermal dysplasia: evaluation of 78 implants inserted in 8 patients.

Objectives: Ectodermal dysplasia (ED) is a congenital syndrome characterized chiefly by abnormalities of tissues of ectodermal origin, namely skin, nails, hair, and teeth. Dental treatment of patients with ED is necessary, because it affords the opportunity to develop normal forms of speech, chewing, swallowing, and normal facial support. Because there are few reports focusing on implants inserted in bone grafted in patients affected by ED. This is a retrospective study of 78 implants inserted in 8 patients to detect those variables acting on survival and crestal bone remodeling around the implant neck in such subjects.

Materials: Seventy-eight fixtures were analyzed. Several patient-related (age and gender), anatomical (maxilla and mandible, tooth site), implant (type, length, and diameter), surgical (sites and types of grafts), and prosthetic (type of loading and implant/crow ratio) variables were investigated. Implant failure and peri-implant bone resorption were considered as predictors of clinical outcome. Kaplan-Meier algorithm and Cox regression were then performed to detect those variables statistically associated with the clinical outcome.

Results: Implant length and diameter ranged from 11.5 to 18 mm and from 3.5 to 6.0 mm, respectively. Implants were inserted to replace 19 incisors, 19 cuspids, 21 premolars, and 19 molars. One implant was lost. On the contrary, implant' length, grafted sites, and type of loading have an impact on univariate analysis, but this datum was not confirmed by multivariate algorithm.

Conclusion: The use of dental implants and bone grafts to orally rehabilitate patients affected by ED is a valuable service with no difference in the results compared with unaffected patients, at least in adults.