Survivan rates of narrow versus standard diameter implants in different treatment options: a retrospective study

Implant dentistry has had a great success in the last decades for replacing missing teeth; however, implant surgery needs bone availability. The use of narrow diameter implants (NDIs) may be an alternative approach in patients with atrophic maxilla or mandible. The aim of this study is to perform a study on NDIs to evaluate their survival rate. In the period between January 2008 and December 2013, 877 patients (498 females and 379 males) were operated at the BDD private Practice Clinic (Milan, Italy). The mean post-surgical follow-up was 30±17 months (max – min, 84 – 1). One thousand three hundred and forty-six implants (EDIERRE Implant System SpA, Genoa, Italy) were included in the present study, 112 (8.3%) 3.3 mm (i.e. narrow) and 1,234 (91.7%) 3.75 mm wide. All patients underwent the same surgical protocol and agreed to participate in a post-operative check-up program. SPSS program was used for statistical analysis. Survival rate (SVR) was 97.25% since only 37 fixtures were lost from a total of 1,346 implants. Cross-tabulation between failure diameter did not demonstrate any statistical differences between narrow and standard diameter implants. NDIs are reliable devices for oral rehabilitation.