One-hour tooth implant may have problems STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swiss-Swedish Nobel Biocare's Teeth-in-an-Hour implant system may carry more risk of complications than conventional methods, an abstract of a study by Sweden's Karolinska Institutet showed on Saturday. The study examined 31 patients treated using the method, which uses computer modeling to reduce implant installation time, and showed that complications such as the loss of fixtures and the need for adjustments arose for nearly a third. Nobel Biocare could not immediately be reached for comment. Nine percent of the 175 fixtures examined -- the titanium screws which are fastened to the bone -were lost, said Bjorn Klinge, professor of periodontology at Karolinska Institutet and one of the study's authors. This compared with a loss rate of roughly 2 to 3 percent using conventional and more timeconsuming methods, he added. "My assessment is that this is still at the trial stage and therefore can't be recommended for general use," Klinge told Reuters. "Our data shows rather unequivocally that there is a lot of development left before one http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/az-topics/i/Implants can say if this is a good or a bad product," he added. The study, presented at a dental conference in Venice on Saturday, has not yet been published in a scientific journal or peer-reviewed, but Klinge said an article was being prepared.
He also noted the method offered several benefits, including shortened treatment time and reduced or eliminated bleeding, swelling and pain.
"In its way, this is a fantastic method and San Diego implant dentist I think that there may be a lot of positive things coming out of this, but it is obvious that there are a number of problems which are not solved with this method," he said. "If one is to use it, one should be clear that the risk of failure is up to 30 percent, and that is exceptionally high." The study looked at implants using the Teeth-inan-Hour method, unveiled in 2003, between three months and three years after installation. Klinge is part of a panel of experts that advised Sweden's Medical Products Agency on another