Complete dentures play an important role in oral rehabilitation. Patients usually get easily adapted to the maxillary denture, but the mandibular denture has its own share of problems to deal with. Often elderly patients have a chief complaint of a loose lower denture resulting from an inadequate mandibular ridge. In an attempt to a well fitting dentures Implant retained over-dentures have evolved as a potential solution to the problem of stability and retention of the complete dentures. Narrow diameter implants can be used in patients with extremely thin residual ridge which do not allow the placement of standard implants (3.75-4.1mm). Mini dental implants (MDIs) are ultra small diameter, biocompatible titanium alloy implant screws ranging from 1.8-2.5mm in diameter. Lengths range from 10mm –18mm. The main advantage of MDIs is the minimally invasive and single stage placement procedure. Bleeding and post operative discomfort are usually reduced and healing time is shortened. Generally, MDIs are loaded immediately as soon as primary stability is achieved. In this article, a case report of 58-year-old female patient is presented, with a severely atrophic mandibular ridge that was managed by the MDI system with an over denture.
Keywords: Immediate loading implants, mini dental implants, over denture