Basal implants as a treatment alternative for severely resorbed ridges

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term treatment outcomes of basal implants in patients with severely resorbed ridges, including the survival and success rates, patient complaints, satisfaction, and Quality of life. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: An extensive electronic search was conducted on the search engines: PubMed, Web of Sci ence, and Google Scholar using Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) and the key words (basal implants, Corticobasal implants, Strategic implants, severely resorbed ridge, severely atrophic ridge, treatment outcome, patient satisfaction) within the last 10 years. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: A total of 21 articles were found, encompassing 9732 basal implants placed in 1219 patients. Thirteen studies had reported a success or survival rate with a range of 90.3-100% for intraoral basal implants and 88.2% and 92.9% for orbital and nasal implants, respectively. Four studies have reported failure rates with a range of 0.3-3.2%, while seven articles documented 0.3-2.4% mobility. The pain was reported in 6 studies (0.3-0.8), marginal bone loss (0.33-7.89 mm), an increase in bone density, and peri-implant bone contact were reported in 3 and 2 studies, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Basal implant-supported prostheses can be a practical treatment modality with high predictable sur vival or success rates, positive impacts on patient satisfaction, and improved quality of life.