A 10-year multicenter retrospective clinical study of 1715 implants placed with the edentulous ridge expansion technique.

This work evaluates the data gathered over a period of 10 years on implants placed with the edentulous ridge expansion (ERE) technique by a group of specially trained and experienced surgeons. Between January 1992 and December 2001, 1715 consecutive implants were placed with the ERE technique by nine different dental surgeons using a common surgical protocol. The implants were followed up using a common protocol and a specific database for the collection of clinical information on the patient, surgery, and follow-up, including the 1986 Albrektsson et al criteria for implant success. All data gathered at the end of the study period were placed in a common database. The overall success rate over the O-year follow-up period was 95.7%.