Over 2000 Diskimplants have been placed at our center in 10 years, including over 500 in the sinuses after sinus elevation. All of these implants have been loaded immediately. All patients thus immediately benefited from a fixed transitional bridge, a comfortable situation that allowed them to wait patiently until their definitive prosthesis was fabricated. Actually, the final restoration only provides an esthetic improvement, because the qualitative stage is validated from the outset, when the transitional bridge is placed the first day.

Less than two months after surgery, 99% of the basal implants were osseointegrated, and the transitional bridge was replaced by the final restoration in the following week or weeks.

Minor complications were encountered during the immediate postoperative period for only approximately 2% of the implants placed. Management of these problems merely resulted in a delay of 2 to 4 months before delivery of the final restoration. Despite these delays in a few patients, all but one conserved the initial prosthesis fabricated the day after surgery during this period, and no patient complained of any discomfort.

One patient was obliged to go without his transitional prosthesis for almost two months. This patient had presented with extreme maxillary atrophy (eggshell bone); CT scans revealed direct contact at three points between the buccal and the sinus mucosa. Nevertheless, at the end of this 2 mo. period, and, of course, without any bone grafting, he received the fixed definitive prosthesis he desired.

Minor secondary complications, i.e. those occurring after osseointegration of the implants and fabrication of the definitive bridge, were observed for less than 2% of the implants placed. All of these problems were temporary and no patient ever had to go without his or her prosthesis.

After 10 years during which we have placed more than 2000 basal implants, all of our patients are functioning with the fixed, implant-supported prostheses they came to us for.




First introduced in France in the 1970s, the implants used in basal implantology (Diskimplants) are characterized by a circular (or more complex) basal disk or disks (from 1 to 3). The wide range of diameters (5 to 15 mm) facilitates achievement of stable anchorage in the densest portion of the bone. The implant shaft and slender emergence profile limit the risks of microbial infiltration while conferring a certain degree of resilience (a type of flexibility), all the while preserving the bone vascularity.

However, the essential feature of basal implants that permits immediate loading is the manner in which they are anchored in the bone. Whereas axial implants must remain submerged and unloaded until osseointegration occurs to avoid the deleterious effects of shear forces, basal implants can be functionally loaded immediately because they respect the same modalities of bone healing that have been exploited by orthopedic surgeons for over 30 yr. The best comparison is the patient who receives a hip prosthesis: rather than having to respect a prolonged period of bed rest, he is requested to get up and start walking the day after surgery.