Five Years of Experience Using Palatal Mini-Implants for Orthodontic Anchorage

Arcuri, Claudio; Muzzi, Fabiana; Santini, Francesca; Barlattani, Alberta; Giancotti, Aldo

doi:10.1016/j.joms.2007.06.651

« Previous Next »Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Volume 65, Issue 12 , Pages 2492-2497, December 2007

Five Years of Experience Using Palatal Mini-Implants for Orthodontic Anchorage

Claudio Arcuri, MD, DDS, PhD
- Professor and Chairman, Department of Odontostomatology, AFaR, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Isola Tiberina, and Professor of Periodontology, University of Rome “Tor Vergata,” Rome, Italy.
- Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr Arcuri: Unità Operativa Complessa di Odontostomatologia, Ospedale Fatebenefratelli, Isola Tiberina, 00186 Roma, Italy
Fabiana Muzzi, DDS
- Doctor in Dentistry, AFaR, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Isola Tiberina, and University of Rome “Tor Vergata,” Rome, Italy.
Francesca Santini, DDS
- Doctor in Dentistry, AFaR, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Isola Tiberina, and University of Rome “Tor Vergata,” Rome, Italy.
Alberta Barlattani, DDS
- Doctor in Dentistry, University of Rome “Tor Vergata,” Rome, Italy.
Aldo Giancotti, DDS
- Assistant Professor, University of Rome “Tor Vergata,” and AFaR, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Isola Tiberina, Rome, Italy.

Purpose

The authors review 5 years of clinical experience using Straumann Orthosystem (Straumann, Basel, Switzerland) palatal mini-implants for orthodontic anchorage, describe clinical procedures, and give statistical results.

Materials and Methods

Diagnostic planning, surgical phase, and clinical procedure are described. The diagnostic planning was performed on lateral cephalogram in 13 cases; in 1 case, with an ectopically included upper canine, a computed tomography was requested. The Straumann Orthosystem kit includes a pure titanium implant with the healing cap, and a set of burs and instruments for the surgical insertion and removal. The sample comprised 14 adult patients (2 males and 12 females) requiring fixed orthodontic appliance for Class II malocclusion. Because of critical anchorage conditions they had received a palatal mini-implant as absolute anchorage during orthodontic treatment: 9 implants of 6.0 mm and 7 implants of 4.0 mm were positioned, primarily using a 2.5 mm transmucosal neck length. The orthodontic phase always started after 13 weeks of the insertion, in order to ensure osteointegration.

Results

In all cases, neither a perforation of the nasal cavity nor other surgical complication occurred. All implants have been successfully osteointegrated, except for 1 which has been lost for critical hygiene conditions. Two implants needed to be replaced because of tongue forces, which had been determined to interfere with the osteointegration immediately after surgery; this inconvenience was afterwards solved by the use of a resin splint.

Conclusions

Palatal mini-implants revealed to be clinically easy to use and proved to be an efficient auxiliary device in orthodontics when absolute anchorage is needed.