COMPARISON BETWEEN LONG AND STANDARD LENGTH IMPLANTS10

Long implants (LI, i.e. longer than 13 mm) are thought to give longer survival than standard length fixtures. The aim of this study is to evaluate the survival rate of 780 LI. 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). One thousand seven hundred and fifty-three fixtures (EDIERRE Implant System SpA, Genoa, Italy) were evaluated in the present study, 780 15 mm long (LI) and 972 13 mm long (i.e. standard length implants). 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 97.8% since only 38 fixtures were lost from a total of 1,752 implants. Cross-tabulation between failures and jaws had a statistical significant value (p= 0.027) with worse results fox maxilla (23 failures out of 768 implants). Also tooth position has an impact (p= 0.027) since incisors plus canines had 18 failures out of 550 implants whereas premolars and molars had 20 lost fixtures out of 1,202. LIs give a small but significative advantage in oral rehabilitation.