USE OF SHORT IMPLANTS IN SINGLE TOOTH REPLACEMENT (FOLLOW-UP 4 YEARS)

In the posterior regions, however, the location of anatomical structures, i.e. inferior alveolar nerve and the maxillary sinus, may limit the availability of a sufficient bone volume to install oral implants. An alternative therapy in situations with limited amounts of bone available is the installation of shorts implants, defined as implants with an intrabony length of 6 mm. Forty SLActive Straumanshort implants were placed in 35 consecutively treated patients. Nineteen implants, 4.1 mm in diameter, and 21 implants, 4.8 mm in diameter, were installed. Implants were loaded after 6 weeks of healing . Implant survival rate, marginal bone loss and resonance frequency analysis (RFA) were evaluated at different intervals. The clinical crown/implant ratio was also calculated. Shorts implants (6 mm) with a moderately rough surface loaded early (after 6 weeks) during healing yielded high implant survival rates and moderate loss of bone after 4 years of loading. Longer observation periods are needed to draw more definitive conclusions on the reliability of short implants supporting single crowns