New Dental Implant Design

Minimal bone vertical dimension in the maxilla sinus floor creates a rehabilitation issue for surgeons who wish to place implants in order to allow prostheses of some sort to be placed (this may include: individual crowns, bridges, directly fixed dentures or removable implant retained dentures).

Advances in implants, burs, and grafting materials have progressed the possibility of surgical placement of implants in areas of low bone volume in the maxilla. More recently, crestal approach sinus lifts have become a viable option in some cases. However, for immediate implant placement, there must be enough vertical and horizontal bone volume to allow primary fixation/stability. This is irrespective of whether the surgical approach is via sinus lateral window or crestal approach.

If primary stability of an implant cannot be achieved, then a lateral window sinus lift typically needs to be carried out prior to implant placement and 3-6 months allowed for bone generation. This adds time and cost to achieve a satisfactory outcome. Even so, in some cases of extreme bone loss, a lateral sinus lift has a poor prognosis and thus restoration of such an edentulous situation is unlikely to be viable in the short or long term. In cases where there is only 1 to 2.5 mm of bone on the sinus floor, and an implant is the best restorative option, the major obstacle is the lack of primary fixation/stability in order to get a satisfactory surgical outcome (i.e. a stable, integrated, long-term implant placement).

Dr Gerke has designed an implant system that would amalgamate some of the current advances in implantology and in most applicable cases should allow a quicker, cheaper and better solution. It is his intention to progress this development over the next few years.

If this interests you, please contact him via email ([email protected]) or LinkedIn.