title: Short dental implants versus standard dental implants placed in the posterior jaws: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: The purpose of the present systematic review and meta-analysis was to compare short implants (equal or less than 8mm) versus standard implants (larger than 8mm) placed in posterior regions of maxilla and mandible, evaluating survival rates of implants, marginal bone loss, complications and prosthesis failures.
  
  
  
  This review has been registered at PROSPERO under the number CRD42015016588. Main search terms were used in combination: dental implant, short implant, short dental implants, short dental implants posterior, short dental implants maxilla, and short dental implants mandible.
  
  
  
  An electronic search for data published up until September/2015 was undertaken using the PubMed/Medline, Embase and The Cochrane Library databases.
  
  
  
  Eligibility criteria included clinical human studies, randomized controlled trials and/or prospective studies, which evaluated short implants in comparison to standard implants in the same study.
  
  
  
  The search identified 1460 references, after inclusion criteria 13 studies were assessed for eligibility. A total of 1269 patients, who had received a total of 2631 dental implants. The results showed that there was no significant difference of implants survival (P=.24; RR:1.35; CI: 0.82-2.22), marginal bone loss (P=.06; MD: -0.20; CI: -0.41 to 0.00), complications (P=.08; RR:0.54; CI: 0.27-1.09) and prosthesis failures (P=.92; RR:0.96; CI: 0.44-2.09). Short implants are considered a predictable treatment for posterior jaws. However, short implants with length less than 8 mm (4-7 mm) should be used with caution because they present greater risks to failures compared to standard implants.
  
  
  
  Short implants are frequently placed in the posterior area in order to avoid complementary surgical procedures. However, clinicians need to be aware that short implants with length less than 8mm present greater risk of failures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Materials and Prosthodontics, Araçatuba Dental School, UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Araçatuba, Brazil. Electronic address: cleidiel@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Cleidiel Aparecido Araujo
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Lemos
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Integrated Clinics, Araçatuba Dental School, UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Araçatuba, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcio Luiz
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Ferro-Alves
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Integrated Clinics, Araçatuba Dental School, UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Araçatuba, Brazil; CNPq Fellowship.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric and Community Dentistry, Araçatuba Dental School, UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Araçatuba, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcos Rogério
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Mendonça
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Materials and Prosthodontics, Araçatuba Dental School, UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Araçatuba, Brazil; CNPq Fellowship.
authors.forename: Eduardo Piza
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Pellizzer
mesh_terms: D003758:Dental Implantation, Endosseous / Q000379:methods*; D015921:Dental Implants; D017267:Dental Prosthesis Design; D019094:Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported; D019232:Dental Restoration Failure; D006801:Humans; D007576:Jaw, Edentulous, Partially / Q000601:surgery*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology
chemical_list: D015921:Dental Implants
keywords: Complications; Edentulous jaws partially; Marginal bone loss; Meta-analysis; Prosthesis failures