Crestal vs. Subcrestal: Which one is best?  ????

Yo, what’s up, peeps! Implant Ninja here to break down this research on dental implants for you. So, we’ve got this article by Ronaldo Silva Cruz published back in 2020.

Alright, so the problem they’re tackling is how the placement of dental implants, either crestal or subcrestal, affects their performance. They wanted to see if there’s any difference in marginal bone loss, implant survival rate, and peri-implant soft tissue between these two placements.

Now, they did a systematic review and meta-analysis, which is cool because it helps us draw some solid conclusions from multiple studies. The researchers searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases for randomized clinical trials up to September 2020.

They found 10 studies with a total of 393 participants who received 709 implants, some crestal and some subcrestal.

And guess what?

The results showed that both crestal and subcrestal implants had similar marginal bone loss, survival rate, and peri-implant soft tissue parameters. No big difference there.

The researchers also checked out other factors like healing protocol and subcrestal level, but it didn’t seem to change the outcomes much. In fact, they even considered the impact of platform switching, new alloys, and other factors on bone loss and survival rate.

So, what does all this mean for dental practitioners?

Well, both crestal and subcrestal implant placements seem to be equally good options in terms of implant survival and overall success. So you can rest at ease–the success or failure of your case is not going to lie in just this particular detail. 

However, like always, we gotta be careful with our interpretations because the studies had some limitations. There were variations in implant systems, follow-up periods, and other factors that could affect the results.

But overall, it’s great to see research like this that helps us make better decisions in the dental field. So keep learning and growing, my friends, and always stay ahead in the game! All of us at Implant Ninja are here to cheer you on. Keep hustling!