Prospective clinical-radiological study of the survival and behavior of short implants.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM Short implants are a therapeutic alternative for edentulous patients with severe bone resorption. Differences in peri-implant bone loss and complications of short implants depending on the type of connection are unclear. PURPOSE The main purpose of this clinical study was to evaluate the survival rate after 2 years of the short implants in the Oxtein system (Proclinic). Secondary objectives were to compare implant survival, peri-implant bone loss, peri-implant mucosal status, and associated complications in internal hexagonal connection versus external hexagonal connection implants. MATERIAL AND METHODS A randomized clinical trial was carried out in 14 patients with a mean age of 62.7 ±8.5 years, with a total of 61 Oxtein L35 and L6 Proclinic implants being placed at the Faculty of Dentistry. A descriptive analysis, simple binary logistic regression model using generalized estimating equations. and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis were carried out (α=.05). RESULTS Implant survival was 85.2% (52/61). Failure of all implants occurred before prosthetic loading; bleeding after probing occurred in 28 implants, being greater among external connection implants (57.6%) P=.025. The presence of plaque appeared in 36 of the implants, without statistically significant differences between external connection (72.8%) and internal connection (60.0%) (P>.05). A total of 28 implants had at least 2 mm of keratinized mucosa, without statistically significant differences between external connection (63.6%) and internal connection (35.0%) P=.200. A total of 8 complications (13.1%) were recorded, including connection fractures, screw fracture, framework fracture, and buccal fenestrations. CONCLUSIONS Short implants are a therapeutic solution to more complex surgical techniques. However, as lower survival has been reported, the characteristics of the implants and operator experience are important factors for their success.