ORAL REHABILITATION
Cite this article:
Lombardo G, Pardo A,
Mascellaro A, Corrocher G,
Marincola M, Costantinescu FE,
Nocini PF.
Rehabilitation of severely resorbed
maxillae with zygomatic implants:
a literature review.
Stoma Edu J. 2015;2(1):70-79
REHABILITATION OF SEVERELY
RESORBED MAXILLAE WITH
ZYGOMATIC IMPLANTS:
A LITERATURE REVIEW
Abstract
Giorgio Lombardo1a*,
Alessia Pardo1b,
Anna Mascellaro1c,
Giovanni Corrocher1d,
Mauro Marincola2e,
Florin-Eugen Costantinescu3f,
Pier Francesco Nocini1g
Clinic of Dentistry and Maxillofacial Surgery,
University of Verona, Verona, Italy
2
State University of Cartagena, Cartagena,
Colombia
3
Holistic Dental Medicine Institute-ROPOSTURO,
Bucharest, Romania
1
a. MD, DDS, Associate Professor
b. Dental Hygienist
c. Dentistry Student
d. DDS, MSC
e. MD, DDS, Clinical Assistant Professor
f. DDS, PhD Student
g. MD, DDS, Full Professor, Director
Background: The use of endosseous implants is a routine treatment modality
for replacing missing teeth. However, the use of dental implants is limited by
the presence of adequate bone volume permitting their anchorage. Several
bone augmentation techniques have been applied to solve this problem.
During the last two decades zygomatic implants have become a proposed
alternative to bone augmentation procedures for the severely atrophic
maxilla. The main advantages of this kind of rehabilitation could be that bone
grafting may not be needed and a fixed prosthesis could be applied sooner.
Objective: The purpose of this review is to examine the evidence concerning
the management of severely resorbed edentulous maxillae using implants
placed in the zygomatic bone.
Data collection: The articles reported in this literature review were searched
on pubmed/medline database, considering only the English-written scientific
journals.
Outcomes: A Zygomatic Success Code, describing criteria to score the
success of a rehabilitation anchored on zygomatic implants, is represented by
the outcomes of these variables: implant stability, associated sinus pathology,
peri-implant soft tissues condition and prosthetic results. Excellent results
were observed for zygomatic implants. Many studies showed an implant
survival rate of 100% combined to similar prosthetic results.The cumulative
survival rate (CSR) and patients’ satisfaction indicate that zygomatic implants
could be an effective alternative for the management of an atrophic maxilla
and, in some cases, be the only treatment solution. However, there are
no well-defined criteria that help the clinician to evaluate this prosthetic
rehabilitation.
Conclusions: Thus, further studies are necessary to assess the longterm prognosis of the zygoma implant and whether these implants offer
some advantages over other techniques for treating atrophic maxillae.
Keywords: atrophic maxilla, zygomatic implants, dental implants, surgical
technique, implants success criteria
Background
The use of endosseous implants is
currently a routine treatment modality
for prosthetic reconstruction of the
Received: May, 5th 2015
edentulous maxilla, allowing to achieve
Accepted: June 2nd 2015
acceptable long-term results in patients
* Corresponding author: with sufficient bone volume (1).
However, inadequate bone volume can
Giorgio Lombardo, MD, DDS
Associate Professor,Clinic of Dentistry and be the result of a resorption process
Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Verona following teeth extraction, traumatic
P.le L.A. Scuro 10 I-37134 Verona, Italy
Tel: +39 045 8124867, Fax: +39 045 8124865 injuries, odontogenous infections and
e-mail: [email protected] maxillary sinus pneumatisation (2-4),
STOMA.EDUJ (2015) 2 (1)
which present challenges to implant
rehabilitation. Many techniques have
been applied to increase the bone
volumes. The most studied were
sinus floor augmentation, onlay bone
grafting, Le Fort I osteotomy with
interpositional bone grafting and free
revascularized flaps (5-14). However,
these treatment protocols may extend
the overall treatment time, the need for
hospitalization and the inability to wear
a pre-existing prosthesis during the
healing period. Additionally, increased
69