implants international magazine of oral implantology

_Introduction The advent of CAD/CAM technology and the morewidespreadutilisationofimplantsinmodern dentistry have led to an explosion of treatment solutions designed to address any situation en- countered by the general dentist. As patients have become more aware of the benefits of implant therapy, they have begun to demand more immediate restoration of their teeth. The provision of a fixed prosthesis has always been the goal in dentistry; however, the cost of such treatment is pricing the vast majority of patients out of the implant mar- ket. Immediate loading, avoiding conventional grafting techniques by placing implants at vari- ous angulations (All-on-4, Nobel Biocare; Colum- busBridge,BIOMET3i),hasresultedinasignificant uptake of treatment by edentulous patients and those with a failing dentition. This is mainly be- cause a fixed bridge is provided and treatment times are reduced from months to hours, avoiding a conventional denture. Most edentulous patients can tolerate a com- plete maxillary denture with few problems. The vast majority of problems arise in the mandible, where the underlying supporting tissues are not designed to function under this type of occlusal loading. Even a properly constructed complete lowerdenturecanmoveasmuchas10mminfunc- tion. This continuous movement of the prosthesis results in loss of the supporting bone (or remodel- ling), further destabilising the denture. Poor ridge form increases denture instability and this pro- duces more remodelling. Edentulism fulfils the WHO definition of a physical impairment. _Treatment protocol A simple treatment protocol was devised to treat this problem. According to this protocol, two dental implants are placed in the inter-foraminal area of the mandible, to which either a bar or stud attachments are connected to retain the lower I research The implant-retained bar overdenture:The SFI-Bar Author_Dr Tussavir Tambra, United Kingdom 06 I Fig. 2a Fig. 1 Fig. 2b Fig. 2c Fig. 3 Fig. 4a implants2_2012