Posterior edentulous mandibular bone‐height change with implant‐supported fixed complete dentures: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract Purpose To investigate the amount of bone‐height change in the posterior edentulous mandible restored with full‐arch implant‐supported fixed complete dentures (FCDs). Methods A search was conducted in the Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost Dentistry and Oral Sciences databases for clinical studies on bone‐height change in the posterior edentulous mandible restored with FCDs. The full‐text articles were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria by two reviewers. Risk of bias assessment of the included studies was conducted using the methodological index for non‐randomized studies (MINORS). Meta‐analysis was performed using a random‐effects model to estimate bone height change in the posterior mandible with a 95% confidence interval (CI). The statistical significance was defined as p ‐value ( Results A total of 7,224 publications were identified through electronic databases and manual search. Twelve cohort studies were selected for qualitative assessment and eight for quantitative analysis. The pooled bone‐height change was 0.67 mm (95% CI: 0.29–1.05 mm); p  = 0.001) with high heterogeneity based on chi‐square and I 2 statistics ( I 2  = 97.63%; τ 2  = 0.43). Subgroup analysis based on implant type as covariate demonstrated that endosseous implants were associated with statistically significant ( p  Q  = 0.284; p  = 0.594). MINORS scores were 10–13 of 16 for one‐arm studies and 20 of 24 for the single two‐arm study. Conclusion Within the limitations of this review and meta‐analysis, FCDs were associated with a statistically significant increase in posterior mandibular bone height, although high heterogeneity and a prediction interval spanning bone loss limit the generalizability of this finding. Further standardized prospective studies are needed to clarify the factors underlying this variability.