Author/Authors :
Kovacic, Ines Department of Prosthodontics - School of Dental Medicine - University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia , Persic, Sanja Department of Prosthodontics - School of Dental Medicine - University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia , Kranjcic, Josip Department of Prosthodontics - School of Dental Medicine - University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia , Lesic, Nikolina Prosthodontics at School of Dental Medicine - University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia , Celebic, Asja Department of Prosthodontics - School of Dental Medicine & Clinical Hospital Centre Zagreb - University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract :
Serious consequences of long-term complete denture wearing may be extreme residual ridge atrophy and a reduced area of
keratinized oral mucosa of a denture-bearing area. This paper presents five clinical cases of extreme mandibular ridge atrophy,
rehabilitated by means of mandibular overdentures retained by short mini dental implants. The patients had a reduced
mandibular bone volume in the interforaminal region, bone height less than 10 mm, and buccolingual bone width less than
4 mm. In order to avoid bone augmentation, patients received four short mini dental implants (MDIs) (6 or 8 mm long; 2.0 or
2.5 mm wide) for the support of mandibular overdentures, which is a new rehabilitation option. After insertion, the MDIs were
early loaded with new mandibular overdentures reinforced with the CoCr framework. The patients have been wearing their
overdentures for 2 years. One MDI broke during insertion and a new one was added. One patient lost one MDI but successfully
continued to wear the overdenture retained by the remaining three MDIs. Mean marginal bone loss (MBL) was 0.20 ± 0.19 mm.
Patients significantly improved their OHRQoL and chewing function by reducing the summary scores of the OHIP-14 and the
chewing function questionnaires. The improvements remained unchanged throughout the observation period.
