Systematic assessment of soft tissue level and bone level dental implants

Abstract

Objective To systematically review the literature to compare soft tissue level implants vs. bone level implants, depending on mesiodistal edentulous space, aesthetic requirements, type of prosthetic restoration, connection-reconnection of the abutment, and denture space.

Methods Medline (Pubmed) and Scopus were electronically and hand searched for any publications that evaluated STL and BL implants in relation to any advantages or disadvantages in clinical situations.

Results Overall, 1098 articles were identified, of which 48 were selected for review. 7 of them were systematic reviews, 8 were randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and 33 were non-RCTs (5 case control studies, 4 cohort studies, and 24 other types of non-RCTs)

Conclusions All current implant approaches offer good results in terms of marginal bone loss and survival rates. Due to the fact that in different clinical situations, one or another type of implant may offer additional advantages, the choice between soft tissue level or bone level implant must be based on the particular characteristics of each case.