Immediate loading with a novel implant featured by variable-threaded geometry, internal conical connection and platform shifting: Three-year results from a prospective cohort study

purpose: to evaluate the clinical and radiological performance of an immediately loaded novel implant design over a 3-year period. materials and methods: this prospective study includes 54 consecutive partially edentulous patients treated between december 2010 and october 2011. outcome measures were: implant and prosthetic failures; biological and mechanical complications; marginal bone loss (MBL); sulcus bleeding index (SBI); and plaque score (PS). results: a total of 118 (29 narrow platform, 70 regular platform and 19 wide platform) nobelreplace conical connection implants were placed in both post-extraction sockets and healed sites and immediately loaded. the mean insertion torque was 63.4 ± 7.1 Ncm. one hundred out of 118 implants (84.7%) were inserted with a torque ranging between 55 and 70 Ncm. each patient received a single prosthesis. at the 3-year follow-up, no patient dropped out and only two post-extractive implants failed (1.7%) in two patients (3.7%). the only complication (1.9%) observed was an event of periimplantitis, consisting of a mean mesiodistal peri-implant bone loss of 3.2 mm reported in a healed site of a smoker patient at the 2-year follow-up examination. no prosthesis failures were detected. the cumulative mean MBL between implant placements at the 3-year follow-up was 0.68 mm (95% CI: 0.44, 0.92). At the 3-year follow-up session, the SBI and PS were 5.7% and 15.4%, respectively. conclusions: the nobelreplace conical connection implant can be considered as a valuable treatment option for immediate implant placement and loading in the partially edentulous patients over a 3-year period. Insertion torques ranging between 55 and 70 Ncm are not detrimental to osseointegration.