A meta-analysis of clinical studies to estimate the 4.5-year survival rate of implants placed with the osteotome technique.

To estimate the survival rate of implants placed with the osteotome technique by means of a systematic review.The literature was searched using Medline; the search was limited to the years 1953 to 2005. Inclusion criteria were: (1) clinical studies or clinical reports investigating the osteotome technique for dental implantation and (2) control or test group(s) from clinical studies or clinical reports, even if they did not fit with other criteria. By pooling the data of the included studies, overall Kaplan-Meier survival curves were constructed for the periods before and after loading.The initial literature search yielded 164 studies. After selection criteria were applied, 5 studies were considered suitable for inclusion. The combined data of 349 implants revealed survival probabilities of 98% (confidence interval [CI], 97.2% to 100%) until loading and 99% (CI, 94% to 100%) after 56 months of loading. At the end of the observation period 41 implants in 18 patients were still at risk.The outcome of dental implantation using the osteotome technique in terms of implant survival seems to be similar to that of implants placed by means of the conventional implantation technique.