Materials and Methods: Fifty dry human skulls were scanned with a Siemens Somatom Sensation 64 slice computed tomography scanner. Data was transferred to Vitrea where sagittal, parasagittal and coronal sections were obtained at 2mm intervals. The images were transferred to Photoshop and bone height measurements were obtained at 2mm intervals anteroposteriorly. Eight measurements concentric to a ninth center point at repeatable locations were made to reflect the diameter of a standard palatal implant and were referenced to the dentition. A paired-sample t-test was used to examine the bone height between right and left sides of the palate. A One-way ANOVA/post-hoc Tukey-Kramer test was conducted to examine bone height differences between various palatal sites (alpha=0.05). Results: Palatal bone height measurements revealed overall bilateral symmetry (p>0.05) across 50 skulls. Maximum bone height was found in the first premolar region (mean 4.70-6.30mm) at 2, 4, 6, and 8mm bilaterally from the palatal midline with increasing bone height parasagittally. Further analysis revealed a significant difference (p<0.0007) between midsagittal and parasagittal locations at 2 and 4 mm across the palate. Due to anatomical factors, only a limited number of sites in the canine and second premolar region showed sufficient bone height for implant placement.
Conclusion: Parasagittal sites in the first premolar region provide sufficient bone height for the safe placement of palatal implants. Care should be taken in placing implants in the midline due to the decrease in vertical bone height with parasagittal movement.