Plastic Probes Matched Metal at Implants With Less Pain, While Electronic Probe Faltered

Posted: November 12, 2026

Plastic Probes Matched Metal at Implants With Less Pain, While Electronic Probe Faltered

Edited by Hygienetown staff

Metal and plastic probes measured peri-implant probing depth with comparable accuracy, the plastic probe caused less discomfort, and an electronic probe proved unreliable, according to a cross-sectional study published Nov. 5 in Clinical Oral Implants Research.

Researchers examined 50 patients with 85 implant-supported restorations, recording probing depth with a metal probe, a plastic probe, and an electronic probe. They then removed each prosthetic restoration to measure the correct probing depth, along with mucosal height and probing depth from the implant level.

The metal and plastic probes were within 1.5 mm of the correct value in about 80% of measurements and underestimated depth by 0.5 mm on average. The two probes agreed perfectly with each other in 68.7% of cases.

A thick peri-implant mucosal phenotype reduced the accuracy of the metal probe. Patients reported significantly less pain and discomfort with the plastic probe than with the metal one.

The electronic probe differed from the correct value by 1.5 mm or more in 65% of measurements.

The authors cautioned that even with metal and plastic probes, about one in five measurements may deviate from the correct probing depth by 1.5 mm or more.

Magdalena Mayol and Andreas Stavropoulos of Malmö University in Sweden, Kristina Bertl of Sigmund Freud University Vienna, and Nikolaos Pandis of the University of Bern conducted the study, which was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT05332327.

Sources:
Clinical Oral Implants Research, “Probe Accuracy and Agreement and Patient Preferences in Peri-Implant Probing Depth Assessment: A Cross-Sectional Study,” published online Nov. 5, 2026:
doi.org/10.1111/clr.70195
PubMed, PMID 42984420:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42984420


Plastic Probes Matched Metal at Implants With Less Pain, While Electronic Probe Faltered

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