The current study reviews the literature on the effect of dental implant surfaces in patients with a history of periodontal disease. The six included papers comprised both retrospective and prospective studies [36,37,38,39,40,41]. The two prospective randomized clinical trials were analyzed separately [38, 40]. As demonstrated by equality of the risk ratios and on account of the limited amount of included studies, we could not find any difference between machined surface implants and rough surface implants in both implant survival rate and implant mean marginal bone loss.

All treated patients were periodontally healthy before they took part in the actual investigations. It is widely clinically accepted that, in periodontally compromised patients, implants are only placed after successful periodontal therapy. Already in the nineties, it has been proved that individuals with a strong susceptibility to periodontal diseases can be treated successfully with osseointegrated implants [42]. Moreover, Meyle et al. have recently demonstrated stable clinical and radiographic implant results in patients with a previous history of periodontitis [43]. On the other hand, it is known that patients with a history of periodontitis yield lower survival, significantly higher complications, and significantly lower success rates compared with patients who had lost their teeth for reasons other than periodontitis [44, 45]. Heitz-Mayfield and Huynh-Ba have shown in a review that the combination of a previous experience of periodontal disease and smoking increases the risk of implant failure and marginal bone loss around implants [46]. The present review reports on chronic, moderate, and advanced periodontitis. This implies that the compromising condition for all these periodontal subgroups is comparable. However, it is likely that, in this way, a bias is introduced. Indeed, Mengel and Flores-de-Jakoby have shown that patients treated for generalized aggressive periodontitis experience more attachment loss and bone loss when compared with patients treated for chronic periodontitis [47]. In addition, these patients are clearly more prone to late failure [47]. Similar findings have been reported by De Boever et al. who have shown that, unlike patients with chronic adult periodontitis, patients with generalized aggressive periodontitis exhibit more peri-implant pathology and marginal bone loss and display lower implant survival rates [48]. In accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions, all turned surface implants in this review were placed in the classic Bränemark two-stage submerged protocol, while the other implants were placed non-submerged. Recent studies have shown comparable outcomes for both treatment modalities [49, 50].