Graftless Implantology as a Forward-Looking Clinical Concept for Highly Atrophic Maxillary Arches

For many decades the success of dental implants has been considered to be dependent predominantly on the quality and quantity of the patient's alveolar bone. Building on the high success rates of implants, bone grafting eventually was implemented, allowing patients with insufficient bone volume to obtain implant-supported prosthetic solutions for treatment of partial or complete edentulism. Extensive bone grafting procedures have been commonly used to rehabilitate severely atrophic arches but are associated with long treatment times, unpredictability, and donor site morbidity. More recently, nongrafting solutions that maximally utilize the residual highly atrophic alveolar or extra-alveolar bone for implant therapy have been reported to have success. The emergence of diagnostic imaging and 3D printing technology has allowed clinicians to provide individualized, subperiosteal implants that can adapt precisely to the patient's remaining alveolar bone. Furthermore, paranasal, pterygoid, and zygomatic implants that utilize the patient's extraoral facial bone outside the alveolar process can provide predictable and optimal results with no or minimal bone grafting with less treatment time. This article considers and evaluates the rationale for graftless solutions in implant therapy as well as the data supporting the use of various graftless protocols as alternatives to grafting and conventional dental implant therapy.