Purpose: Although immediate-loading implant (ILI) treatment is a general treatment strategy for fully edentulous maxillae, long-term evidence is required. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term clinical results of, and risk factors for, ILI treatment in fully edentulous maxillae.
Materials and Methods: ILI treatments of maxillae using 526 implants in 117 patients were reviewed retrospectively. The longest and mean observation periods were 15 years and 9.2 years, respectively. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis, log-rank tests, and multilevel mixed-effects parametric survival analysis were used for statistical analyses.
Results: Overall, 38 of 526 implants failed in 23 patients, and the estimated 15-year cumulative implant-level and patient-level survival rates were 90.7% and 73.7%, respectively. The cumulative implant survival rate was significantly higher in female patients than in male patients. Sex, implant length, and implant diameter were significantly associated with implant survival.
Conclusion: ILI treatment of completely edentulous maxillae demonstrated viable long-term clinical outcomes. Male sex, shorter implant length, and narrow implant diameter negatively affected implant survival.