| Summary: | Today, dental implants are routinely used to restore missing teeth in all regions of the jaws. However, replacing single, small-sized teeth like upper lateral and lower incisors is often limited due to available mesio-distal space. The diameter of conventional, small platform 2-piece implants is mostly around 3.3 to 3.5 mm. With regard to neighbouring teeth, a minimal distance between implant and root of around 1.2-1.5 mm is recommended in order to maintain interproximal attachment levels at natural abutments. Thus, an overall mesio-distal gap size of at least 6 to 6.5 mm is needed when selecting conventional implants. With the introduction of 1-piece implants, now smaller diameters down to 3 mm are possible without jeopardizing the long-term fracture resistance. In combination with an adequate surgical and prosthetic protocol, these 1-piece implants represent a new treatment option for restoring small sized gaps with a mesio-distal width of down to 5 mm.
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