The Role of Keratinized Mucosa in Peri-Implant Health

Abstract

To evaluate the role of keratinized mucosa around dental implants, correlating with other clinical parameters related to the success of dental implants. Cross-section. Institutional tertiary referral hospital. A total of 202 dental implants fixed in the cleft area of 109 patients with cleft lip and/or palate were evaluated. Interventions: The evaluated clinical parameters were probing depth and gingival and plaque indexes on the buccal surface (three sites). All clinical parameters were correlated with the width of keratinized mucosa around the implants. The largest probing depths were detected when the width of keratinized mucosa was 2 mm or more, with a statistically significant difference between the means of the probing depth and keratinized mucosa width. Even though the present results suggest that peri-implant health can be observed in areas with keratinized mucosa width under 2 mm provided an adequate oral hygiene control is performed, longitudinal randomized studies are necessary to analyze the relationship between the width of keratinized mucosa and the health of peri-implant tissues.