A prospective evaluation of short dental implants in posterior region of the jaws: One year of follow-up

Background

Short implants have become a therapeutic option for oral rehabilitation in areas with lacking of bone availability, mainly in the posterior region of the mandible since the use of the short implants is a less invasive and expensive treatment compared to the grafting procedures

Aim/Hypothesis

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the success rate of short dental implants compared to conventional implants after one year of follow-up

Material and Methods

Short implants (n = 15) and conventional implants (n = 37) with external hexagonal platform implants were place in 16 patients at the posterior region of the mandible. The clinical periimplantar probing, the resonance frequency analysis, the periimplantar bone level and radiographic bone density were collected in four moments- installation of the prostheses (T0), 90 days (T1), 180 days (T2) and 360 days (T3) of installation of the prostheses

Results

No implant was lost during the evaluation period and no statistically significant difference was observed for the values of analysis by frequency of resonance, depth of sounding and radiographic bone density between the groups compared. With regard to periimplantar bone height, the values presented by short implants at T0 and T1 were lower than for conventional implants (P < 0.05), becoming similar to the conventional implants from the T2

Conclusion and Clinical Implications

The short implants obtained similar success rate with the conventional implants becoming a viable option of rehabilitation treatment