A comparative investigation in dogs: 2-year morphometric results of the dental implant--bone interface.

One hundred twenty titanium and ceramic root-form and titanium blade implants were placed into 30 dog mandibles. Twenty-four implants in six control dogs (in situ for 5 months) did not receive prostheses. Ninety-six implants in 24 dogs supported prostheses for 6, 12, 18, or 24 months. Computerized morphometry data presented the percent of the implant surface apposed directly by bone. A three-way factorial analysis of variance was used to assess significance. Individual implant means ranged from 0% (mobile implant) to 71% bone adaptation. From these data, two-stage titanium root-form implants were shown to be apposed by more bone than the other five systems, and overall, titanium implant systems were apposed by more bone than ceramic systems. Between 41% and 50% of the surface of integrated ceramic implants were apposed by bone, whereas between 50% and 65% of the surfaces of titanium implants were apposed by bone. Also, two-stage surgery for blade implants appears important for implant success. Furthermore, the use of Nomarski differential illumination appears to be useful for examining the quality of interfacial bone to correlate with the amount of bone quantified by morphometric protocols.