World’s largest study on implants in edentulous mandibles to be extended.

by Dental Tribune International.

DÜSSELDORF/KIEL, Germany: The German Research Foundation has extended the world’s largest single-implant study for the retention of a complete denture in the edentulous mandible by another three years. The total funding for the project, which started in 2012 at the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel, now totals around €1.275 million.

To reduce the cost and burden of restoring the edentulous jaws of older persons via implant treatment, the aim of the study is to examine whether retaining a complete denture on just a single midline implant in the mandible could be a viable alternative. The dental prosthesis is removable and released by means of a button. “The study results to date indicate that this method leads to an improvement in the oral health-related quality of life and objective masticatory function even after a period of five years,” said Prof. Matthias Kern, Chairman of the Department of Prosthodontics, Propaedeutics and Dental Materials at the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein.

The clinic’s researchers are also conducting further studies to advance and optimise the care of patients with complete dentures. In a new study, dentists at the Kiel centre aim to explore how effectively a complete denture can be retained in the mandible with additional dental implants. For this purpose, Kern and his team are seeking edentulous persons over the age of 50 who are dissatisfied with the seating of their mandibular prostheses despite having clinically adequately designed complete dentures, to participate in the research. For the study, patients will receive three mandibular implants in one surgical procedure. Subsequently, the complete denture will be attached to one implant, then to two implants after three months and then to all three implants after six months. In this manner, the researchers aim to determine how the number of implants supporting the denture affects masticatory effectiveness.

The most recent results of the greater study were published on 18 October 2018 in the Journal of Dental Research under the title “Survival and complications of single dental implants in the edentulous mandible following immediate or delayed loading: A randomised controlled clinical trial”.