Radiographic considerations for the placement of mini-implants

Abstract

Skeletal anchorage within the field of orthodontics has become indispensable in recent years, as it allows greater opportunities in the mechanics of treatment; however, there are various radiographic considerations that have been published for the positioning of mini-screws in the maxillae, this is due to the different criteria and methods used by researchers, and there are also different radiographic trends that would allow the ideal insertion point for the placement of mini-implants to be established. The literature was selected through a search of the following electronic databases: Pubmed, Google Academic, Springer, Taylor & Francis, Web of Science and Cochrane, restricted to articles including all languages and published with no time limit. A total of 286 articles on the topic were obtained, and after applying the inclusion and exclusion filters, 16 articles were obtained and reviewed for the development of the present review. The available literature revealed that CT scans are the gold standard compared to periapical, occlusal and panoramic radiographs for the evaluation and diagnosis of mini-implant placement. However, if low-dose CT scans are not available, then the ideal would be to place the mini-screw following the bone/dental anatomy and then take a single periapical or panoramic radiographic image after mini-screw placement to observe possible lesions from the manoeuvre performed.