What Are Mini-implants?
The MDI System consists of a miniature titanium implant that acts like the root of your tooth, and a retainer fixture that is incorporated into the base of your denture. Advantages of the mini implants are:
- Placed in as little as one visit
- Low cost: usually about half of traditional implants
- No long healing period
- Secures dentures immediately
Mini-implants can take the anxiety out of waiting for permanent full sized implants to "take hold." If the implants are being placed to stabilize a denture or to replace a long bridge or partial denture, mini-implants can stabilize replacement teeth to function comfortably and predictably in the interim.
Where mini-implants are indicated they are extremely useful. Limiting factors are the quality and quantity of bone available. Engineering principles must also be quantified—such as not over stressing the smaller implants into situations where they may fracture. As such, their use is not universal and their usage must be quantified by an experienced implant dentist.