Evaluation of transitional implant stabilized overdentures: a case series report

Transitional implants (TI) can immediately improve the stability and retention of existing unstable mandibular complete dentures. This study evaluated the improvement of mandibular complete denture stability and retention with the use of TI. Three TIs were placed in the intraforaminal region of the edentulous mandible of seven patients (three men, four women; mean age 69.7 years). The patients' existing mandibular complete dentures were immediately modified to TI-stabilized overdentures. Their masticatory movements (mandibular movements during mastication) were measured using a commercially available tracking device (BioPACK, Bioresearch, Japan), both before TI placement and about 1 month after delivery of the TI-stabilized overdentures. The mean time of each chewing phase (opening, closing, and occluding) and coefficients of variation were calculated. The patients also completed a questionnaire about the foods they could chew and indicated on a 100 mm Visual Analog Scale (VAS) their personal levels of comfort, ease of chewing, speech, and stability. For masticatory movements, there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) between the TI-stabilized overdentures and existing complete dentures. However, the number of foods that could be chewed increased, and the stability and comfort were reported as improved with the TI-stabilized overdentures. Using TIs, the stability and comfort of the existing mandibular complete dentures studied in this report could be immediately improved.