Custom-made maxillary blade implants
The above image shows a typical blade implant for the lower jaw, also known as a ramus frame implant
Blade implants were some of the first implants placed. Dr. Leonard Linkow utilized blade implants for the first time in 1966 with great success. Linkow used to fabricate them from chromium nickel and vanadium. The placement of a blade implant was a single step procedures, where the implants were introduced through the mucosa into the bone. Subsequently, many companies and dedicated individuals tried to develop blades of various designs and of different materials all of which resulted in varied success rates. Currently, most blade implants are made out of titanium, ceramic (monocrystalline forms ) and memory alloys, all featuring a very high degree of biocompatibility. The original blade implants never really showed any true osseointegration (i.e. bone-to-implant contact), because they were not made out of titanium or another osseointegrative material, such as sapphire or even zirconium, and they were immediately placed under load (i.e. the patient could bite on them right after surgery. These implants were said to be fibro-integrated - they had a connective tissue layer between the implant surface and the bone.
Blade implants are rarely used these days. They have largely been replaced by their rootform counterparts, due to their easier placement and more predictable success rates. Blade implants have actually demonstrated some very good success rates early on, however the surgery was very technique sensitive. Today blade implants are usually only utilized as an alterative to major grafting in very narrow ridges. If we have a situation, where the bony jaw ridge has become so thin that regular cylindrical implants can not be placed without a prior bone graft procedure and the patient does not want the added discomfort and expense, then a blade implant may present an alterative. The associated risks and benefits need to be well understood, however, and vary from patient to patient.
Blade Implants
