Because length matters -- short dental implants
Patient wellbeing is in the center of modern implant dentistry. Success of treatment and long-term maintenance of the result are two important factors. Equally important is the stress inflicted on the patient resulting from therapy. Treatment pathways associated with lower morbidity, and costs and time are progressively preferred. In this context an increasing body of evidence indicates that implants with shorter length than normal will lead to successful clinical outcomes. The clinician is often confronted with a bone morphology that does not allow placing implants in a prosthetically ideal position without concomitant bone augmentation procedures. Even though augmentation procedures have been demonstrated to be successful, they are associated with significantly increased morbidity, cost and time needed for therapy. Based on recent evidence short implants with rough surfaces appear to have similar survival rates as standard-length implants. Thus, short implants have become an alternative to bone augmentation procedures in various clinical situations and are more widely used in other indications as well. Possible benefits associated with the use of short implants encompass: less diagnostic procedures (e.g. DVT) necessary, lower risk of damage to adjacent structures (root, nerves, vessels, sinuses), avoiding large augmentation procedures, less diagnostic and surgical skills necessary, lower patient morbidity, less complications, lower costs, shorter treatment time.
20 окт 2024
