Abstract

COMPARISON BETWEEN SHORT DENTAL IMPLANTS VERSUS STANDARD DENTAL IMPLANTS OF POSTERIOR JAWS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW & META-ANALYSIS

Tuqa M. A. Aldawood*, Maison Al Qarni, Abdulhadi I. A. Alhayek, Wejdan D. Muslih, Abdulmohsen Mohammed AlFantoukh, Raghad Lafi Albeladi, Anaan Ibrahim Bushnag, Rinad Hamed Baik

Abstract

Background & Purpose: Short dental implants have been proposed as a less complicated, cheaper and faster opportunity for rehabilitation of atrophic edentulous regions to avoid disadvantages of the surgical strategies together with excessive technical sensitivity and postoperative headaches, but efficacy of short implants still questionable. The Aim of this work is to provide cumulative data about the efficacy and safety of short implants (equal or less than 8 mm) versus standard implants (larger than 8 mm) in posterior maxilla and mandible, to assess survival rate of implants, implant failure and complications rates. Methods: A systematic search was performed of PubMed, Cochrane library Ovid, Scopus & Google scholar to identify dentistry RCTs, clinical trials, and comparative studies, which studied the outcome of Short implants versus Standard implants of posterior jaws. A meta-analysis was done using fixed and random-effect methods. The primary outcome was survival rate of implant. Secondary outcomes were implant failure and complications rates. We calculated efficacy (favorable outcome), through implant survival rate. We also calculated safety (adverse outcome), through implant failure and complications rates. Results: A total of 5 studies were identified involving 623 implants, 312 in the Short implants and 311 in the Standard implants. Regarding outcome measure, meta-analysis study showed, highly significant increase in survival rate, and decrease in failure rate in standard implants compared to short implants (p < 0.01), but complications rate shoed non-significant difference (p > 0.05). Conclusion: To conclude, the placement of short tough-floor implants isn't a less efficacious treatment modality as compared to the placement of conventional rough-surface implants for the substitution of lacking enamel in both totally or partially edentulous patients.

Keywords: Dental Implants, edentulous jaws, survival rate, prosthesis failures.