Proposition of a New Scale for Marginal Bone Loss Prediction Around Dental Implants—A 5-Year Follow-Up of Functional Loaded Implants

<b>Background</b>: Marginal bone loss (MBL) is a condition leading to implant loss and treatment failure. MBL is one of the main complications in dental implantology. The aim of this research is to show the method that can predict bone loss around implants and protect patients from implant loss. <b>Methods</b>: A total of 1026 intraoral standardized radiographs of dental implants were included in this study. A total of 2052 peri-implant jawbone image samples were analyzed in MaZda 4.6 software. A new scale was calculated and described. MBL was measured, and groups of patients were compared. <b>Results:</b> After 3 months of functional loading, the Corticalization Index (CI) was calculated to be 210.70 ± 149.78 and increased after 60 months to 277.88 ± 198.78. In the 60-month observation, MBL was 0.85 mm ± 1.29 mm, and it has been noted that low MBL is associated with CI lower than 300, high MBL with CI higher than 500, and critical high MBL appeared when CI was higher than 1200. <b>Conclusions:</b> Authors created a new scale, and research showed that the specified CI in our scale may predict MBL around dental implants with a five-year forecast horizon. It allows us to implement specific treatment and protect implants from loss.