Purpose

: To compare pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in the peri-implant crevicular fluid (PICF) in unused and reused healing abutments.

Materials and Method

: This study was a controlled randomized, double-blind clinical trial. Seventy-two patients who met the inclusion criteria were divided into two groups. After one-stage implant placement, in group A, an unused healing abutment, and in group B, a reused healing abutment, was connected to the implant fixture. After 2 months, clinical measurements for keratinized gingiva (KG), plaque index (PI), and bleeding index (BI) (Ainamo and Bay) were taken, and PICF sampling was performed to evaluate pro-inflammatory IL-1β and TNF-α cytokine levels using the ELISA test. Comparison of clinical measurements and cytokine levels between the two study groups was made using the Mann-Whitney test.

Result

: Clinical measurements and sampling were performed on 60 patients (nA = 27, nB = 33). There was no significant difference between the two groups in clinical measurements (BI (p-value=0.96) and PI (p-value=0.06)) or TNF-α (p-value=0.63) and IL-1β (p-value=0.26) cytokine levels.

Conclusion

: Reused healing abutments that are cleaned and sterilized properly do not appear to induce further peri-implant pro-inflammatory response; therefore, they can be utilized temporarily until implant abutment insertion.

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