A 5-Year Satisfaction Outcome Study of Patients Receiving Six-Implant-Supported Fixed Prosthesis

Abstract

The aim of the study was to analyze the satisfaction of patients treated with a protocol of six-implant-supported fixed prosthesis (6IFP) throughout 5 years of service. This retrospective study collected the data of all patients who had full-arch rehabilitations using 6IFP and followed them for 5 years. After applying the research inclusion/exclusion strategy, 37 cases were finally included in the study. All the patients had no previous complete dentures because they were partially edentulous, not interested in pursuing complete denture rehabilitation, had immediate dental extractions, implantation used the 2-stage protocol, and there was minor peri-implant socket grafting. Cases with severe bone loss that required extensive grafting were excluded. A total number of 222 implants were placed in the maxillary or mandibular arches in a total of 37 patients. The data presented the satisfaction outcomes concerning mastication, phonetics, and comfort during the first 5 years of the recall plan. The former was achieved based on the clinical record reviews, follow-up visits, and recall phone calls at the preoperative stage as well as annually thereafter. The mean satisfaction rate was 94.5%, with a mean record of 8.21 ± 1.7 out of 10, there was no gender predilection significance, and no age range variation significance was validated. Regarding the smoking status, the t-test score exhibited no significant effect on phonetics and mastication (p = 0.12, p = 0.16, respectively), whereas comfort was found to be significantly affected (p = 0.03). The comfort level was found to be slightly less at the immediate postoperative period among smokers when compared to non-smokers. In conclusion, partially edentulous patients who received the rehabilitation plan of arch dental extractions, six immediate implantations, and delayed prosthetic loading were found to be highly satisfied.