A Comparison of Dental Implant Complications with Tobacco and Alcohol

A Comparison of Dental Implant Complications with Tobacco and Alcohol
J. JONES, J. KIM, L.A. LANG, and L.T. GARCIA, University of Texas - San Antonio / Health Science Ctr, USA
2005
IADR
There are many publications in the literature on dental implants. Previous studies have documented dental implant complications and tobacco. It has also been shown that tobacco and alcohol are contributing factors to various diseases. A greater understanding of these relationships is needed. OBJECTIVES: to compare dental implant complications with tobacco and alcohol use. METHODS: this study was a one year retrospective study in which charts were reviewed on 172 subjects that received 400 dental implants. Protocols were followed to insure HIPAA compliance. Subjects ranged from 17-85 years in age and included 67 men and 105 women. Dental implant complications per implant included soft tissue complications (148), bone loss around the implants (22), loss of dental implants (7), subjective comments (30), and other objective findings (58) recorded in the charts. Analysis of Frequencies Chi Square was used to compare dental implant complications per implant with tobacco use (70) (tobacco use included smokers 63 and smokeless, chewing tobacco 7) and alcohol use (135), as well as combined tobacco and alcohol use (29) and combined non-tobacco and non-alcohol use (195). RESULTS: showed statistical differences of bone loss with tobacco use and alcohol combined, compared to non-tobacco or non-alcohol use (p=0.004), of subjective comments with tobacco use compared to non-tobacco and non-alcohol use (p=0.0001), and of objective findings with tobacco use compared to non-tobacco use and non-alcohol use (p=0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: By itself alcohol showed no significance, but in combination with tobacco and tobacco by itself there was significance with specific dental implant complications.