Influence of the level of compliance with preventive maintenance therapy upon the prevalence of peri‐implant diseases

BACKGROUND: A study was made to evaluate peri-implant conditions in compliers and erratic compliers with peri-implant maintenance therapy (PIMT), and to assess the role of site-specific confounders. METHODS: Erratic PIMT compliers (EC) were defined as presenting attendance < 2×/year, while regular compliers (RC) attended ≥ 2×/year. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were employed to perform a multivariable multilevel analysis in which the peri-implant condition was established as dependent variable. RESULTS: Overall, 86 non-smoker patients (42 RC and 44 EC) attending the Department of Periodontology of the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya were recruited consecutively on a cross-sectional basis. The mean period of loading was 9.5 year. An implant placed in an erratic patient has 88% higher probability of presenting peri-implant diseases versus RC. Furthermore, the probability of diagnosis of peri-implantitis was significantly higher in EC versus RC (odds ratio OR 5.26; p = 0.009). Among other factors, history of periodontitis, non-hygienic prosthesis, period of implant loading, and modified plaque index (mPI) at implant level were shown to significantly increase the risk of peri-implantitis diagnosis. Although not associated with peri-implantitis diagnosis risk, keratinized mucosa (KM) width, and vestibular depth (VD) were significantly associated to plaque accumulation (mPI). CONCLUSIONS: Compliance with PIMT was found to be significantly associated with peri-implant condition. In this sense, attending PIMT < 2×/year may be ineffective to prevent peri-implantitis.