Valentina Ormazabal

The rehabilitation of the atrophic maxilla represents a real challenge in our daily practice and has been the center of many research studies during the last 23 years (Branemark, Mattsson, Malo, Zampellis, Penarrocha, Polido, ect). The full arch therapy and graftless solution in these kinds of patients are quite complex due to the extensive chart that needs to be achieved in order to succeed in the rehabilitation (sharp knowledge of the craniofacial anatomy, cautious planning, psychological assessment of the patient, skilled surgical technique, biomechanics, occlusion, prosthetics knowledge). The principle of full arch therapy is to place four adequately distributed implants in the maxilla with high insertion torque to perform immediate loading and achieve a balanced functional and aesthetic prosthesis. This video presents four clinical cases of maxillary atrophy considered of high risk in the SAC surgical and prosthetic classification of the ITI that I operated on in my private practice under local anesthesia and slight oral sedation, without the use of surgical guides and immediate loading of an FP3 prosthesis.

I was born at the end of the eighties in Chile and pursued my entire basic education in a French school. I always wanted to travel, so I followed my father on his professional project to Portugal, where I learned Portuguese and pursued my medical education. After finishing my degree and always being passionate about oral surgery, I decided to go to Cuba and learn the basics of the Maxillofacial and oral surgery at the Hermanos Almejeiras Hospital and the emergency service at the Calixto Garcia Hospital during the weekends. This experience taught me how to operate with very limited resources and, thereby, achieve a very sharp knowledge of surgical techniques and craniofacial anatomy. As an ancient ski racer in Chile, I decided to combine my two passions and move to the French Alps to establish myself professionally next to the mountains as well as to continue my education with two master’s degrees at the University of Lyon (periodontics and implant rehabilitation). For the years to follow, I focused myself on becoming a polyvalent surgeon and improving my skills through several travels to Portugal, where I did my Master’s degree in advanced oral surgery and implant therapy; Brazil (3 weeks bootcamp in atrophic maxilla); Spain, USA, Germany, etc. The rehabilitation of the resorbed maxilla became the main subject of my interest due to its vast complexity chart that needs to be attained in order to succeed in the therapy (occlusion, anatomy, surgery, prosthetics) and the life-changing results that I can bring to my patients.