Effectiveness of Prosthodontic Rehabilitation of Patients with Dental Defects and Severe Jaw Atrophy Using Short Implants:Narrative Review

Background: Scientific articles published in modern professional scientific literature do not sufficiently disclose the effectiveness and predictability of using short implants in the long term (more than five years) depending on biological, technical and biomechanical factors, which determines certain limitations in the use of short implants in clinical practice.

Objective: Based on a literature review, to evaluate the effectiveness of prosthodontic rehabilitation of patients with dental defects and severe jaw atrophy using short implants.

Methods: This literature review includes studies in which prosthetics of patients with various types of adentia and severe jaw atrophy was performed using short dental implants. The review included articles from Google Scholar, Medline, Scopus, Web Of Sciences, and PubMed. Search keywords terms included: severe jaw atrophy, bone augmentation, short dental implants, prosthodontic rehabilitation. Review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines.

Results: Conducted a preliminary search and reviewed 186 titles and abstracts in this review and 115 full-text articles were selected of high methodological quality. A review of the literature showed that researchers have different approaches to the use of short implants. A number of scientific studies report that short implants lead to a higher incidence of peri-implant bone resorption, implant-related complications, and prosthesis failures compared to standard implants. Therefore, it is recommended to use short implants (5–6 mm) with caution. Some researchers consider short implants as an alternative to increasing vertical bone height, noting the high clinical effectiveness of using short implants in orthopedic rehabilitation of patients with atrophy.

Conclusion: The current systematic review has shown the advantages of short implants are that their use allows to reduce the number of complex and expensive bone graft procedures to create a sufficient volume of bone tissue for implant placement, prevent damage to anatomical structures, reduce the time and cost of treatment. Optimization of short implants surface allows to increase the effectiveness of treatment, ensuring a long-term stable clinical results.

Keywords: Severe Jaw Atrophy, Bone Augmentation, Short Dental Implants, Prosthodontic Rehabilitation.