To Splint or Not to Splint Tooth and Adjacent Dental Implants: An Overview of Reviews

Abstract

Purpose: This study has done a nonbiased and comprehensive assessment of the survival rate of splinted and nonsplinted implant restoration from published meta-analyses and systematic reviews. Materials and methods: All the included studies were assessed based on the risk of bias in systematic reviews (ROBIS) tool. Furthermore, the corrected covered area (CCA) was calculated using a citation matrix for meta-analyses. Studies with low overlap were only included in the final analysis. In the case of a high degree of overlap, the newest higher-quality study was chosen. The “Metaumbrella” package and R software were used to perform the statistical analysis. Result: The original randomized controlled trials (RCTs) had an overall CCA of 5, indicating slight overlap. For quantitative synthesis, three studies with meta-analyses were included, which were of high quality and showed low overlap. The quantitative analysis revealed that splinted restorations have a higher implant survival rate. The ratio of success in splinted implants to nonsplinted implants was 1.13 (p-value = 0.001). Conclusion: Based on the findings of this umbrella review, splint restorations have a higher survival rate. This overview review suggests that splinting implants to adjacent tooth is an affordable and effective solution for treating partially edentulous patients. © TheAuthor(s). 2023OpenAccess.