Survey of dental implant practice.

Research advances in oral implantology have led to the development of several implant systems and to an increasing utilization of oral implants by dental practitioners. The purpose of this study was to conduct a survey of dental practitioners using implants in their practices, in order to determine their educational qualifications, to profile their practice in implants, and to evaluate the outcomes of implant therapy. The typical general practitioner in this study received dental implant training mainly from continuing education courses sponsored by a dentist experienced in implantology, spent 12 months or more in receiving formal instruction/training in implant dentistry, practiced state-of-the-art dental implantology, provided both surgical and restorative phases, used an endosseous implant system most of the time, and presented 5- and 10-year success rates of more than 90% for dental implant therapy. No clinically significant correlations were found between the 5- and 10-year success rates and the nature of the dental implant training, the amount of time spent for instruction and training in implant dentistry, or the type of dental implant system used.