Displacements of precious and nonprecious dental bridges utilizing endosseous implants as distal abutments

An investigation was conducted to establish qualitative trends regarding to relative displacements exhibited by the distal and mesial abutments in a five-unit fixed dental bridge as a function of bridge material and implant design utilized in the distal abutment site. Both Au and Ni-based bridge systems utilizing double, natural-tooth mesial abutments and three types of distal abutments (natural second molar, blade dental implant, and hollow-basket implant) were tested on a dried human mandible and subjected to a controlled force applied distally. Dial gauges were positioned around each abutment site bilaterally to provide displacement data in the x(mesial/distal), y(buccal/lingual, and z(occlusal/gingival) directions. The results indicate some significant differences exist in the displacement profiles exhibited by the bridge systems as a function of both bridge material and abutment type.