SHORT VERSUS STANDARD LENGTH IMPLANTS: A CASE SERIES ANALYSIS

The use of short implants (SIs) has had a great success, particularly in posterior jaws, because SIs avoid the need of alveolar crest reconstruction or sinus lifting. The aim of this study is to perform a retrospective study on 808 SIs to evaluate their survival rate. In the period between January 2008 and December 2013, 877 patients (498 females and 379 males) were operated at the BDD private Practice Clinic (Milan, Italy). The mean post-surgical follow-up was 30±17 months (max – min, 84 – 1). Eight hundred and eight implants (EDIERRE Implant System SpA, Genoa, Italy) were included in the present study, 119 (14.7%) 9.0 mm (i.e. short) and 689 (85.3%) 11.0 mm long. All patients underwent the same surgical protocol and agreed to participate in a post-operative check-up program. SPSS program was used for statistical analysis. Survival rate (SVR) was 97.4% since only 21 fixtures were lost from a total of 808 implants. Cross-tabulation between failures and immediate loading had a statistical significant value (p= 0.006) in respect to delayed loading. There were 10 failures out of 161 immediate loaded implants compared to 11 failures out of 626 delayed loaded fixtures. SIs are reliable devices for oral rehabilitation.