Immediate Loading of Mini Dental Implants for Stabilization of Mandibular Complete Dentures: Rationale and Clinical Considerations

Implant retained mandibular overdentures are a successful treatment option for the edentulous patients with long-term predictable outcomes, using conventional loading protocols. In recent year modified loading protocols such as immediate loading have been introduced. These loading protocols showed good clinical results with favorable peri-implant tissue response after implant insertion. However, a limitation of this immediate loading treatment protocols is the diameter of the implants. In cases where the residual bone width is limited, patients still need to undergo a bone augmentation procedure before the implants can be inserted. An alternative treatment is to use implants with reduced diameterthe so called Mini Dental Implants (MDIs). The MDI is a one-piece implant that does not require a separate abutment. This simplifies the restorative phase resulting in a reduced cost for the patient. Although long term data and success rates for MDIs are not available, recent studies on immediately loaded implants with a diameter of 1,8 mm, 2,1 mm and 2,4 mm that used to support mandibular over dentures showed high success rates. The literature review shows that the MDIs have the potential being a viable alternative to the current treatment. The aim of this article is to describe the rationale of utilizing MDIs to retain mandibular implant over dentures, and to describe in detail the surgical and prosthetic protocols associated with this treatment modality.