Success rate for mini dental implant in mandibular posterior region?

Even in the anterior area the success rate is over rated and dependant on the opposing dention or lack of . As for you desire please avoid if possible . Peter

I agree with Peter, I don't use the minis.

One needs more information before minis can be used in the mandibular posterior: opposing dentition, quality and quantity of bone in the area being considered, number and location of remaining mandibular teeth, habits, financial constraints, occlusion, etc. Presenting photos and orthopan would be helpful. I cannot agree with the generalizations of Peter and CRS. There are a lot of unsupported negative comments regarding the success of minis. Neither Peter nor CRS say how many minis they have done and what their results have been. Moki

Yes, the mini implants can be used in the mandibular posterior to resist over denture displacement. The over denture needs to be completely tissue borne. It should settle onto the tissues with minimal force being applied to the mini implants. The mini implants should never be loaded with the full forces of mastication. I have used these small diameter implants for partial as well as full overdenture retension with success for over 10 years. The use of the mini implants for mandibular over dentures with an opposing full denture have been my most successful cases with not a single known case failure in over 10 years. Cases with natural opposing teeth have not enjoyed thre same results. Do not use the mini implants if you can use a 3mm or wider implant unless you do very careful case planning and have a valid reason for choosing the small diameter implants. The mini implants are very technique sensitve and each company has a surgical and prothetic protocal that must be followed . These small diameter implants must be handled in a fashion different from the larger diameter implants and if the surgical and prosthetic procedures are done the same way failure of the mini implant will likely occur. Please take a course that is specific for the mini implant system that you wish to use.

minis for lower overdenture stabilization purpose has a highest success rate among other uses( If you exclude fixed application with minis but that's another thread, another argument). I'm not sure how and why some of the above just make blunt negative comments about minis seeminigly without any compelling evidences or impression that you have placed thses SDI on multiple patients over multiple years. A single biggest reason why minis got bad names in the first place was from all that negative comments coming from docs who never had that much experiences with them.. just heard from other people, read about it somewhere... and they said these don't work. .. MInis on upper denture don't survive as predictably. Nonetheless, these aren't as wasteful or false products as some clinicians claim. I've seen 4.0 mm, 5.0mm , 3.75mm implants failing on my patients 4 times over last two yrs ( One was mine and the others were done someplace else ). I guess I can say these regular implants suck bad. Or is someone going to say " Oh no, with bigger implants, it must be surgeons' fault, not those implants.. " With SDIs, it's always the implants that are bad when they fail..

Hi Enough over the last 12 years or so to realise limitations . Having said that some supring sucesses . Peter

Success of mini cases ultimately depends on bone quality since abutment is already attched to an implant. Peter, with all due respect, I don't think you can make generalization of minis because of the 12 yrs of experience. what would you say if I told you I've been doing that for 7 yrs and my success rate is as high as bigger ones I place? can I tell other docs that minis almost always work in general so you must start doing them? Like you said, I 've realized limits of these things but I can guess my limit with minis are a lot more broad than yours judging from your first reply to OP. Like some clinicians who are deathly against the use of minis who will say " All my colleagues have had bad experience with them ", I can think of many who have good success with minis. can I generalize then? Most likely not. Some do have bad outcomes with them. don't know if it's due to surgical mishap, poor bone quality,..

As dentists we are generally not dealing with life and death issues but with quality of life issues. Minis can be successful and greatly improve the quality of life in many patients especially the elderly. I have used minis in a variety of situations, single tooth, splinted teeth, PD abutments, bridge abutments and for complete denture retention. I had a success rate of 94 % in admittedly small number of cases: 17 patients, 54 mini implants. These implants are especially suitable for patients with terminal disease and the very elderly. But don't take my word for mini success; just look up the following reference: Feldens, Kramer, Sequeira, et al. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent 13: 70-75, 2012. This article reported on the combined results of forty studies in which over 10,000 minis have been place with a 92.3% retention after nine years. As almost all studies report similar success rates this is what the average dentist should expect. Mini failure may be seven to eight percent but the case failure rate should be much lower. Not a whole lot of money doing minis in the average practice but when they can improve the quality of life for the patient that is priceless. To answer the above question: "Can minis be used in the posterior mandible?" the answer is yes but conventional implants should be the first choice.