Commonly Used Implant Dimensions in the Posterior Maxilla - A Retrospective Study

Implant therapy is a treatment option to ensure prosthesis survival rate and it is also done as a fixed dental prosthesis for replacing single and multiunit gaps. Posterior maxilla often has insufficient bone quality and quantity; for this reason it makes implant placement challenging in the site. Posterior edentulous maxilla presents special challenges to implant surgeons that are unique to this region compared to other regions of the maxilla. Thus, the aim of this study is to determine the common implant dimensions used in posterior maxilla. Completed case sheets were collected from a private dental hospital software system. Case sheets were taken from June 2019 to March 2020. Data was retrieved and evaluated by two reviewers. The parameters taken were patients, age groups, gender, teeth indicated for implants (maxillary premolars and molars), implant height, and implant width. Two-hundred fifty-four implants have been placed on the posterior maxilla of which 139 were premolars and 115 were molars. There was no statistical significance between the implants placed in both males and females (p value: 0.274). Between the age groups, the highest number of implants was seen in 41-60 years (n = 146) followed by 17-40 years (n = 78) and finally > 61 years (n = 30). The p value was 0.000, which was statistically significant. Various implant sizes for posterior maxilla have been introduced due to its challenging site. Thus in our study, we can see there is a difference in sizes for premolars and molars. Implant dimensions with increased height are used in the premolars compared to the molars. Implant dimensions with increased width are used in the molars compared to the premolars. In general, implant width and implant height can range from 3.6 to 4.5 mm and implant height ranging from 9.50 to 12.00 mm.