Tapered Short
Short implants exist to answer one question: if there is not enough bone height, must you have a graft? Increasingly the answer is no, and that changes the treatment plan, the timeline and the cost substantially.
At a glance
- Body diameters
- 4.6 mm and 5.8 mm
- Purpose
- Sites with limited vertical bone height
- Collar
- Laser-Lok
- Surgical workflow
- Fully guided, via the Tapered Short Guided kit
- Main alternative
- Sinus lift or vertical bone graft
- Family context
- BioHorizons' Tapered range runs 6–18 mm in length overall
The problem short implants solve
Above your upper back teeth sits the maxillary sinus. Below your lower back teeth runs the inferior alveolar nerve. Both impose a ceiling on how long an implant can be. When teeth have been missing for years the bone shrinks, and that ceiling can drop below what a standard implant needs.
The traditional answer is to make more bone: a sinus lift to raise the sinus floor and graft beneath it, or a vertical graft to build the ridge up. These work, but they add a surgical procedure, months of healing, cost, and a further point at which things can go wrong.
A short implant sidesteps that by fitting the bone you already have. BioHorizons offers Tapered Short in 4.6 mm and 5.8 mm body diameters, noticeably wide, which is the design logic: what is lost in length is partly recovered in surface area through width.
Is a short implant as good?
This has been studied extensively, because it matters clinically and commercially. The general picture from the literature is that short implants in the posterior jaw perform comparably to longer implants placed in grafted bone over medium-term follow-up, while avoiding graft surgery and its complications. That is a meaningful finding: the comparison that matters is not short implant versus long implant in ideal bone, but short implant versus graft-plus-long-implant, because that is the actual choice in front of you.
Longer-term data is still accumulating, and short implants are more demanding of good technique, there is less margin for error in placement, and the crown-to-implant ratio is less favourable, which puts more leverage on the implant.
Why guided surgery is emphasised here
BioHorizons documents Tapered Short with a fully guided workflow. When you are working within a few millimetres of a sinus or a nerve, a surgical guide made from your 3D scan constrains the drill to a planned path. For short implants specifically, the accuracy that guidance provides is not a luxury. If a short implant is proposed, ask whether guided surgery is part of the plan.
If you have been told you need a sinus lift, it is entirely reasonable to ask: “Would a short implant avoid this graft, and if not, why not?” There are legitimate reasons the answer may be no, too little bone even for a short implant, poor bone quality, unfavourable bite forces. But the question deserves a specific clinical answer, because a graft is a significant addition to your treatment in time, cost and risk.
Questions worth asking your dentist
- Would a short implant let me avoid the graft or sinus lift I have been quoted?
- How much bone height do I actually have at this site?
- Which diameter are you planning, 4.6 mm or 5.8 mm?
- Will this be placed with a surgical guide?
- How close is the sinus or nerve, and what is the safety margin?
- What is the cost difference between this and the grafting route?
Related systems
Tapered Internal
The standard-length workhorse line.
Tapered Tissue Level
A tissue-level option within the same family.
References
- BioHorizons. Tapered Short Catalog and Manual. Document L02027 Rev E.
- BioHorizons. Tapered Family Catalog & Manual. Document L02024 Rev H.
- BioHorizons. Laser-Lok Microchannels: Clinical Overview. Document ML0606 Rev J.
Specifications compiled from BioHorizons's publicly available product literature and Canadian product pages. Manufacturer performance claims are identified as such. DentalImplantInfo.ca is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by BioHorizons. BioHorizons, Laser-Lok, Tapered Pro, Tapered Internal, Tapered Short, Tapered PTG and RBT are trademarks of their respective owners, used here for identification and educational purposes.