Survival and maintenance efforts of adhesively attached extracted teeth in periodontitis patients.

OBJECTIVES: For extracted teeth in periodontitis patients, adhesively attaching their crown to the adjacent teeth temporarily closes the otherwise resulting gap, allowing to postpone more comprehensive prosthetic treatment to a more appropriate time if required. This study assessed the survival and maintenance efforts of adhesively attached extracted tooth crowns ('immediate pontics'; IPs). METHODS: Patients receiving active and supportive periodontal treatment involving IPs in a university setting were retrospectively assessed. Survival and repairs of IPs were recorded. Multilevel Cox and linear regression analyses were performed to assess factors associated with survival and maintenance efforts. RESULTS: Twenty-seven patients (male/female: 12/15) with 34 IPs (maxilla/mandible: 13/21) were followed over mean +/- SD 8.0 +/- 5.0 [range: 2.0-19.3] years. At baseline 85.2% suffered from periodontitis stage II or III and 59.3% showed rapid progression (grade C). The mean (95% CI) survival time of splinting was 5.3 +/- 3.8 [range: 0.1-18.0] years. Three IPs had been removed without any significant association with patient- or tooth-level factors. 35.3% of the IPs (n = 12) required a repair, with a mean of 0.5 +/- 0.9 [0-3] repairs per IP (annual: 0.1 +/- 0.2 [0-0.5]). The risk of repairs significantly increased with patients' age (p = 0.018). CONCLUSION: IPs showed moderate survival. However, to maintain IPs, frequent repairs were needed. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Immediately and adhesively attached crowns of extracted teeth in periodontitis patients seems like a valid, albeit temporary strategy which may allow to postpone more comprehensive prosthetic treatment if required, for example during active periodontal therapy. However, to maintain immediate pontics, frequent repairs were needed.