In selected sites, short, rough-surfaced dental implants are as successful as long dental implants

摘要

Clinical question. In adult patients, do short dental implants (< 10 millimeters) lead to failure rates similar to those for longer implants (>= 10 mm) in the first year of loading? Review methods. Two independent reviewers searched three electronic databases and 29 journals for articles published from January 1998 to January 2008. The authors included in the review only English-language, prospective observational studies in which the allocation decision occurred in the course of usual treatment. Also, implants must have been placed in nonaugmented healed jawbone after a conventional healing period of three to six months. The primary outcome measured was implant failure within the first year of prosthetic loading, determined on the basis of established criteria.1 A meta-analysis was carried out in which the authors compared the association between implant length and failure. In addition, the authors performed subgroup analyses of failure as a function of the implants' diameter, surface texture and location in the maxillary or mandibular arch.