Microbial Diversity of Peri-Implant Biofilms on Implant Fixed Bar and Telescopic Double Crown Attachments

One of the principal problems in oral implantation is inflammation of peri-implant hard and soft tissues caused by bacterial biofilms. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the microbial diversity of peri-implant biofilms on 2 different implant-anchored attachment types in vivo. Samples of peri-implant sulcus fluid were collected from 8 patients with implant-supported bar attachments and 8 patients with implant-anchored telescopic double crown attachments. Samples of sulcus fluid of the adjacent teeth were also collected from the partially edentulous patients with implant fixed telescopic double crowns. The mixed amplicons of 16S rRNA fragments of different bacterial origins were separated by use of single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis to identify the predominant bacterial genera. With 3.5 ± 2.1 different predominant bacterial genera in the sulcus fluid surrounding implant-supported bar attachments and 6.3 ± 3.1 different predominant genera in the sulcular fluid of implant-anchored double crown attachments, the differences were not statistically significant (P = .11). The microbial diversity in the sulcus fluid surrounding the remaining dentition was similar to that of the implant fixed telescopic attachments (6.3 ± 2.1). Aside from host response and other individual factors, the microbial diversity of peri-implant biofilms seems to be impaired by cofactors such as the possibility of cleaning the implant-supported supraconstructions and the different plaque-retaining sites. Nevertheless, these differences do not lead to statistically significant differences in the microbial diversity of peri-implant plaques.