Implant periapical lesion. A case series report.

One complication in implant dentistry is the implant periapical lesion-IPL--which is a lesion around the apex of a stable implant diagnosed radiographically as a radioluscency in the bone at the apical part of an implant.The IPL can perform with or without clinical symptoms such as tenderness, swelling, suppuration and fistulation. This report describes 4 cases of IPL which were treated surgically with sectioning and removal of the affected portion of a stable implant and thorough debridement of the granulomatous tissue around it. This treatment was, up to 4 years after treatment, successful in all 4 cases. It can also from this report be concluded that IPL is a rather rare condition and that it can occur at any stage of implant treatment, in these cases from 4 months up to 11 years after implant installation. Finally there is a discussion about the aetiology of IPL and a comparison to findings in other reports on IPL and it is concluded that it is difficult to claim that there is a single cause to IPL. Rather it is evident that the condition might be a sequel of the summation of many possible causes.This summation exceeds the local biological threshold for the individual patient.