Implant protected occlusion: A comprehensive review

Abstract

Complexities in the study of occlusion have set tough challenges for both under graduate and post-graduate students and the introduction of osseointegrated implants has further complicated these challenges. The principles of occlusion are applied by dentists for the natural dentition directly to implant-supported and retained restorations. Although successful, this rationale at times may result in overly complex or simplified treatment protocols and outcomes. The focus of this review is mainly on currently available scientific literature involving dental implant occlusion. The authors reviewed the English peer-reviewed literature prior to 1996 in a comprehensive manner, and the material post 1996 was reviewed electronically using MEDLINE. Electronic searches of the literature were performed in MEDLINE using key words - cohort studies, complete denture occlusion, clinical trial, case studies, dental implant function, dental implant occlusion, dental implant occlusion research, dental implant functional loading, dental implants, dental occlusion, dental occlusion research, denture function, denture occlusion, dentures, implant function, implant functional loading, implant occlusion, occlusion, and removable partial denture occlusion - in various combinations to obtain potential references for review. A total of 4445 English language titles were obtained, many of which were duplicates due to multiple searches. Manual hand searching of the MEDLINE reference list was performed to identify any articles missed in the original search.