Endodontic Peri-implant Defects: A New Disease Entity

Peri-implantitis is becoming a frequent complication observed around dental implants. An endodontic infection of a nearby tooth or an immediate implant placement in an inflamed bone socket from failing endodontic therapy has been associated with retrograde peri-implantitis (RPI), a condition that presents with radiographic lucency at the “apex” of an implant. However, current classification schemes do not capture endodontic lesions that may manifest as coronal or intrabony lesions associated with dental implants. As a result, such cases may be mistreated. Here we present for the first time 2 cases in which peri-implant bone loss occurred in the coronal half of the implant adjacent to a tooth with an endodontic-periodontic lesion and was resolved via endodontic therapy or tooth extraction as indicated. This proof of concept report aimed to introduce endodontic peri-implant (“endo-implant”) defects and increase vigilance, which may help prevent overtreatment or mistreatment of such cases.