Sara F El Shafei, Fardos N Rizk
Implant-retained overdentures are now an advanced method of restoration for edentulous patients, overcoming many of the problems of conventional removable dentures. Yet an implant-retained overdenture requires more thorough and critical planning. When considering an implant-retained overdenture, one of the main factors affecting success of the treatment is the available interarch distance. This is a critical factor as insufficient interarch space would result in an over contoured prosthesis, excessive occlusal vertical dimension, fractured teeth adjacent to the attachments, attachments separating from the denture, fracture of the prosthesis and overall patient dissatisfaction. As such, limited interarch space often restricts the prosthetic armament arium to low-profile attachments and prevents using O-ring attachments and bars. Low profile attacments like OT equator and GPS offers multiple solutions for overdenture treatment planning where inter-occlusal space limitations are considered. Whereas ball and socket attachments are not low profile, they do have considerable advantages, including optimizing stresses and minimizing denture movement. Patient’s appreciation of their ball retained mandibular overdenture remained high over ten years follow-up period and clinical parameters revealed healthy mucosal conditions, high retentive measures and stable marginal bone levels