Stability testing after osseointegrated implant surgery without skin thinning in children: case reports after abutment loss.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate 2 cases of implant loss after osseointegration using low-resonance frequency analysis. PATIENTS Ten children were operated on consecutively with the non-skin-thinning implantation of bone-anchored hearing devices. A capsule report was completed with 2 children who experienced loss of their abutments 3 to 4 weeks after implantation. INTERVENTION Eligible children for bone-anchored hearing device implantation were operated on and followed for a total of 1 year. Visits were planned for 1 week, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months after surgery. Each visit included clinical controls and a stability test with Osstell's resonance frequency analysis measurement, using stability values from 0 to 100 (representing a range of low to high stability, respectively). Of the 10 cases, two were performed as a 2-step, whereas the other 8 were performed as a 1-step non-skin-thinning procedure. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE AND RESULTS: Two of the children (1 two-step and 1 one-step) showed low-resonance measurements of 30 or less after surgery. Both of these children lost their abutments early after surgery. These children had no skin-related problems at the time of abutment loss. CONCLUSION: It may be possible to predict abutment loss in children with primary resonance values lower than 30.