Single Biomarkers Showed Limited Accuracy for Detecting Peri-Implant Bone Loss

Edited by Dentaltown staff

Individual host-derived and bacterial biomarkers showed limited ability to detect peri-implant bone loss, but combining them with clinical measures produced highly accurate detection, according to a diagnostic accuracy study published online Oct. 20 in Clinical Oral Implants Research.

Investigators examined a university-based cohort of 71 patients with 273 implants at baseline and again after a mean follow-up of 3.9 years. Radiographic bone loss of more than 1 mm between the two visits served as the reference standard, and implants with less than 0.5 mm of loss served as controls.

At follow-up, the team collected peri-implant crevicular fluid and submarginal microbiological samples. Bone metabolism and inflammatory markers were measured with a bead-based multiplex assay, and bacterial loads with quantitative PCR.

Higher levels of IL-1ß, Treponema denticola, Fusobacterium species, and Tannerella forsythia were associated with bone loss in unadjusted analyses, but none of those associations remained significant after adjustment for clinical parameters. The best-performing single biomarker reached an area under the curve of 0.68.

Combinations performed far better. Biomarkers paired with clinical parameters exceeded an AUC of 0.95, and IL-1ß combined with either bleeding on probing or probing pocket depth reached 0.97. That pairing significantly outperformed individual clinical measures but did not outperform the clinical parameters combined.

Marion Arce, Cristina Lima, Leire Virto, Juan Daniel Gamonal, Diogo Banaco, Mario Romandini, and Mariano Sanz conducted the study. Their affiliations include the ETEP Research Group at Complutense University of Madrid, the University of Chile, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

The authors said integrated biomarker and clinical approaches show potential as screening tools for bone loss. Because the biomarker samples were collected only at follow-up, the study assessed detection of bone loss that had already occurred rather than prediction of future loss.

Sources:
Clinical Oral Implants Research, “Combined Host-Derived and Microbiological Biomarkers for the Detection of Peri-Implant Bone Loss: A Diagnostic Accuracy Study,” published online Oct. 20, 2026: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/clr.70193