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Published on: October 18, 2021
Maxillary 3-implant removable prostheses without palatal coverage on Locator abutments - a case series
Arild Mo1, Carl Hjortsjö2, Heming Olsen-Bergem3
1Department of Clinical Dentistry, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to present the clinical outcomes of patients with an edentulous maxilla treated with a removable prosthesis without palatal coverage retained by Locator abutments on three titanium implants.
Material And Methods:
All the patients in a private dental clinic consecutively treated up to 6 years earlier were invited for a follow-up examination (n = 23). Two implants were placed bilaterally and one implant anteriorly in a tripod pattern. All patients underwent a clinical and radiological examination and completed questionnaires related to their experiences and satisfaction with the reconstructions. The prosthesis and implants were examined for adverse biological or technical aspects. Patient satisfaction and quality of life outcomes were collected using a self-reported Denture Satisfaction Scale and OHIP-20. Statistical analyses were limited to descriptive statistics.
Results:
Twenty-one of 23 invited participants consented to participate. We report in this study the outcomes of the study participants who had received their implants more than 2 years ago (n = 12). None of their 36 implants gave any indications of mobility or tenderness upon percussion. Suppuration was observed on one implant. Probing around the implants caused no (53%) or minor bleeding (47%). The incidence of adverse biological and technical events was near non-existent. The rates of replacement of male attachments varied, as did any changes of male attachment retention force. All participants described the task of insertion and removal of the prosthesis as unproblematic. The marginal bone loss ranged between 0 and 5.3 mm. The OHIP-20 and the Denture Satisfaction Questionnaire scores were high.
Conclusions:
The results in this clinical study are positive and promising. Admittedly, the study design is purely retrospective and observational with a small participant cohort, so the technical solution of placing three implants in the edentulous maxilla to retain a removable prosthesis should be appraised further in more controlled studies.
