WHAT IS A SAFE DISTANCE BETWEEN MINIS?

A rule of thumb would be 2mm. We can do it closer than conventionals because of its smaller diameter. The basic principle is to ensure optimal living tissue around the implant to maximize healing potential.

I think you should have a very rational way of doing things and that should keep a dentist within the limitations of any form of treatment modality. We should stop looking at minis emotionally but scientifically. I say emotionally because many criticisms are based on the suspicion that the dentist cannot do conventionals... therefore resort to enter into the game via minis. While true sometimes, what is wrong with that?..... and what do you say to a dentist who is adept at using both and yet still use minis successfully and rationally in situations where conventionals just will not do?? We should move on and just accept that dental implants come in all forms of shapes and sizes and materials etc. etc. and as professionals and scientists, use them based on principles and common sense and not just condemn blindly. This will rob the profession of a very useful treatment modality and shortchange the patient. We should see minis like we see fillings. We have different materials for fillings to be used in different situations within their known limitations.

MOSTDIS: A SOLUTION FOR BLACK TRIANGLES.... TREATMENT OF CHOICE ! ? !

In upper anterior cases where the use of conventionals usually result in black triangles due to its large size, I am increasingly convinced that minis should be the treatment of choice because their narrow diameters allow plenty of nutrients for the inter-implant tissues so much so that initial black triangles rapidly get filled up with living tissue, and aesthetically to boot.

BLACK TRIANGLES !

A month or so later, they have disappeared.

This particular patient was a total dento-phobic ++++. He had never seen a dentist for years. He called me on the phone and outlined his fears. His first visit, all I did was talk to him, took an impression and an OPG. If I were to offer to do conventionals only, I gravely doubt that I would ever see him again. With minis, I had great confidence to treat this patient with the minimal of trauma and pain and delivered his teeth fast and in a very satisfactory way. He completed a questionnaire in which he said that he was very happy with the results except for the price and I was charging him less than half what I would have charged him with conventionals with the accompanying steep prices, surgery, time  and possible complications with such a complex case.

Even though they look awfully close, they are not that close because they are minis and have plenty of living tissue surrounding them. The lower left second molar area have two minis that look as if they are touching each other. They look like that because they were placed diagonally to each other and a 2D xray gives that impression. This last 2 failed not because they were too close but because the upper molar had overerupted and bit heavily on them. 

GOAL !!!

There are many cases where minis are the treatment of choice. 

Congenitally missing upper laterals. 

Lower anteriors. 

Ectodermal Dysplasia. 

Post cancer rehab. 

Post facial trauma rehab. 

Patients who do not want bonegrafts and narrow ridges.

Recently, I gave a talk on "Minimized Implants and Their Uses". 

Later, I gave another talk entitled "A Happy Balance".

Minis are an important adjunct in implant dentistry and I really think that it is the way forward. In this talk, I outlined what "Evidenced Based Medicine" is and gave documented evidence to support minis. Thinking dentists should not be prejudiced. The first implant dentists were general practitioners and were considered quacks. Since then, the specialists have claimed implant dentistry for themselves. We should proceed with openness and humility instead. I have done on both Asians and Caucasians and minis work on both indiscriminately, always with informed consent after offering them options for conventionals and minis or both.

I will be speaking on the topic, 

"Treatment of Complex Cases: Striking a Happy Balance". 

I will show how conventionals and minis can be used in tandem to resolve cases simpler, faster, safer...... that otherwise will be very difficult. This will be in the MDA/FDI Scientific Convention and Exhibition in January Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.

Check it out here: http://www.mda.org.my/90-20130112-01.html

My blog that I am refering to is not the blog showing different clinical cases. 

It is another blog where I am writing a book entitled, 

"Minimized Dental Implants: 

The Coming Workhorse of Implant Dentistry".

http://minimized-dentalimplants.blogspot.com/2010/05/minimized-dental-implants-coming.html 

Cheers.

Dr Chow