The effect of mini-implant design on peri-implantitis and pain level after insertion in orthodontic treatment: A prospective clinical study

Background. orthodontic mini-implants provide skeletal anchorage for tooth movement. there are two designs of mini-implants, tapered and cylindrical, which exhibit different clinical characteristics, including possible micro-damage to cor-tical bone. complications such as peri- implantitis and pain after mini-implant placement are common. the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of mini-implant design on peri-implantitis and post-insertion pain level. methods. a total of 152 tapered and cylindrical mini-implants were randomly inserted into 76 patients (17 male, 59 fe-male) who were over 16 years of age. peri-implantitis was assessed using signs of inflammation around mini-implant head. pain levels of injection, during and immediately after insertion up to one week after implantation, were registered using an 11-point horizontal visual analogue scale (vas). data were analyzed using chi-squared and mann-whitney u tests. results. peri-implantitis was observed in 7% of mini-implants. there was no significant difference between tapered and cylindrical mini-implants in the number of peri-implantitis cases (p > 0.05). post- insertion pain increased for 6 hours after insertion, and then decreased gradually. none of the patients reported pain a week after mini-implant insertion. there was no significant difference in pain levels of the two groups at all time intervals (p > 0.05). maximum post-insertion pain (6 hours after implantation: 2.52 ± 2.66) was significantly higher than injection pain (1.38±1.71) (p < 0.001). conclusion. it was concluded that mini-implant design had no significant effect on peri-implantitis and post-insertion pain level.