Latest issues of JCP Digest focus on debates in implant dentistry

The latest two issues of the EFP research summary JCP Digest have been published, covering topics of great interest in the field of implant dentistry: bone regeneration versus connective-tissue graft and whether to use short implants or long implants combined with sinus-floor elevation.

JCP Digest 11 (2018: 45) provides a summary of research carried out at two universities in Belgium which compared guided bone regeneration (GBR) with connective-tissue graft (CTG), simultaneous with implant placement, to restore the buccal convexity of single-tooth gaps.

This single-blind, randomised controlled trial, which took place over a year, found that there was no statistically significant difference between the two techniques in terms of restoring buccal convexity and volume. Researchers said that both techniques can be considered as good alternatives for this type of reconstruction.

The study, published in full in the November 2018 edition of the Journal of Clinical Periodontology (JCP), was summarised for JCP Digest by students of the postgraduate programme in periodontology at the International University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain.

Tissue-level versus bone-level implants

JCP Digest 12 (2018: 45) summarises research that compared the implant survival rate between short (6mm) and standard-length (11-15mm) implants, the latter placed in combination with bone grafting, at five years from loading.

Secondary aims of this prospective controlled multicentre study included biological and technical complications, changes in marginal-bone levels, peri-implant soft-tissue parameters, and patient-reported outcomes.

Researchers – at universities in Austria, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and the USA – found high implant-survival rates for both techniques but noted that the shorter implants were more prone to technical complications. They said that shorter dental implants should be considered as a suitable option to treat maxillary posterior edentulous areas, but they should be closely monitored during the first three years after loading.

This research, published in the December 2018 edition of the JCP, was summarised for JCP Digest by students of the postgraduate programme in periodontology at the University of Strasbourg in France.

Series complete

With the publication of issue 12, the series of JCP Digest based on papers published in the JCP during 2018 has been completed – at least in terms of the English-language versions.

Translation continues apace and, at present, the first five 2018 issues of JCP Digest are available in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, with the first issue also available in Croatian.

Over the next few months, the remaining issues will be translated into these languages, and also Hebrew.

JCP Digest is edited by Phoebus Madianos and Andreas Stavropoulos, from the EFP’s scientific affairs committee, working with the EFP-accredited postgraduate programmes of periodontology, whose students provide the summaries.