CAD/CAM implant crowns in a digital workflow: Five-year follow-up of a prospective clinical trial

Background Implant restorations became the first choice for single-tooth replacement today. Purpose The prospective clinical trial aims to investigate computer-aided-design (CAD)/computer-aided-manufacturing (CAM)-processed implant crowns after 5 years of loading. Materials and Methods Twenty patients were included for cement-retained crowns in posterior sites. Radiographic analysis of bone levels was performed after delivery and follow-up. The Functional Implant Prosthodontic Score (FIPS) was assessed at the final follow-up. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used with a level of significance set at alpha = 0.05. Results One implant was lost, resulting in a success rate of 95% at 5 years. For 19 crowns, neither technical complications nor biological complications were observed. The mean marginal bone level was 0.6 +/- 0.26 mm (range: 0.18-1.12) mesially, and 0.79 +/- 0.36 mm (range: 0.23-1.36) distally at 5 years. During the observation period, mean radiographic bone levels increased significantly by 0.23 mm at mesial and by 0.17 mm at distal sites (P < .0001) indicating minor additional bone loss. The mean total FIPS score was 8.2 +/- 1.0 (range: 7-10) with the high score of 2.0 +/- 0.0 for the variable "bone." Conclusions CAD/CAM-processed implant crowns demonstrated promising radiographic and clinical outcomes after 5 years in function. Future large-scale trials are crucial to confirm these initial results in the field of digital implant processing.