Abstract: Objective To systematically evaluate the effect of interimplant distance (IID) on peri-implant bone resorption by systematic evaluation and meta-analysis. Methods Databases in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI and Wanfang Date until March 2022 were searched to identify animal studies or population studies that comparing peri-implant bone resorption at different IID, and citation indexes were carried out for the critical literatures. Results A total of 9 studies were included, including 7 animal studies and 2 clinical trials. Using 3 mm as the standard IID, meta-analysis indicated that there was no statistically significant difference in marginal bone resorption between IID=2 mm and IID=3 mm of animal studies [MD=0.05, 95%CI (-0.10,0.19), P=0.54]; Clinical trials showed slightly greater marginal bone resorption at IID=2 mm than at IID=3 mm, which is not statistically significant [MD=0.11, 95%CI (-0.09,0.31), P=0.27]. There was no statistically significant difference in vertical bone resorption at IID=2 mm or 3 mm [MD=-0.10,95%CI (-0.27,0.07), P=0.24]. Conclusion sBased on the limited evidence, performance was similar for IID=2 mm compared to IID=3 mm. There is still a need to refine the assessment groups, improve the assessment methods and further confirm the relationship between IID and peri-implant bone resorption.

Key words: Dental implant, Interimplant distance, Marginal bone resorption, Vertical bone resorption, Meta-analysis