The effect of interimplant distance on the height of the interimplant bone crest when using platform-switched implants.

A distance of more than 3 mm between two adjacent standard implants has been shown to preserve the interproximal bone peak, resulting in only 0.45 mm of resorption. The purpose of this study was to determine whether use of the platform-switching technique would change the bone resorption patterns between adjacent implants placed less than 3 mm apart. Radiographic studies of bone resorption around 41 pairs of implants placed less than 3 mm apart in 37 patients were carried out. Mean vertical bone resorption was 0.62 mm, and the mean horizontal component was 0.60 mm. The bone peak that extended coronally beyond an imaginary line connecting the two implant-abutment interfaces was measured, and the mean bone height preservation above this interimplant line was 0.24 mm.