CHAPTER 11 Endosseous blade implants

As versatile as the post type and pin implants are, there are many situations in which their use is difficult or impossible, and, unfortunately, these situations are present in many patients. For example, in some cases problems have arisen with post type implants in long edentulous spans. The resistance of the implant, or implants, against lateral forces was not great enough. Neither post type implants nor triplants can be used in many partially or totally edentulous maxillae because of narrow or shallow ridges.

Experience has shown that one of the architectural features essential to good retention is the width of the implant. This is particularly true when it comes to resisting lateral forces. Increasing the diameter of a post type implant or diverging the legs of a triplant even more was clearly difficult or impossible. Such an increase would obviously threaten the cortical plates of bone and frequently lead to per

foration. A new design approach was therefore needed.

With the idea in mind of creating an implant that incorporated the good features of previous implant designs and deviated from those features that limited their use in a good many sites, Linkow de-signed the blade implant, or blade-vent. Originally conceived for narrow ridges and long edentulous spans, its success in the past 3 years has been so remarkable that the blade is now Linkow's choice implant for most endosseous implant intervention procedures.

Description

The blade-vent has a wedge-shaped body surmounted by a narrow neck whose uppermost part is broadened to bear the prosthesis (Fig. 11-1) . The wedge, which tapers from the top toward the bottom, is very narrow buccolingually, never exceeding 1

Fig. 11-1. A, The facial aspect of the blade. B, Buccolingual aspects of blade implant illustrating the wedge principle.

461