A Clinical Paradigm and Pertinent Literature Review for Placing Short Implants

Abstract

Placing an implant to replace missing teeth can be challenging because of lack of vertical and/or horizontal bone ridge, maxillary 
sinus pneumatization and inferior alveolar nerve position. Additional surgical procedures may be necessary, with varying predict
ability, where vertical augmentation being the least predictable. An alternative option is to place short implants and exclude the 
additional surgical grafting procedures. By reviewing studies, this paper explores the predictability of the short implants for use 
in the methods. Bicon SHORT® implants are available in 5 and 6 mm lengths and seem to be able to overcome such limits but 
more long-term studies are still needed to determine long-term prognosis and success of short implants in terms of them being 
comparable or equal to longer or standard length implants.