Digital implant prosthetics: patient-individual PEEK healing abutments - a case report

Implantology is becoming increasingly digital, opening up new therapy options to achieve preferably predictable and complication-free results. One key parameter for success seems to be stable and fixed soft tissue around the implant as well as the prosthodontic supply. The concept presented in this article aims for an anatoform and stable emergence profile around implants in a digital workflow applying individual polyetheretherketone (PEEK) healing abutments.

A 63-year-old female patient presented to the Department of Prosthodontics at the Center for Dentistry and Oral Health of the Goethe University Frankfurt with implants inserted at regions 45 and 47 and conventional titanium healing abutments. An intraoral scan was performed and a screw-retained 3-unit fixed dental prosthesis (FDP) was designed. On the basis of the CAD, individual healing abutments were designed and fabricated out of PEEK, representing a similar emergence profile to that of the final FDP. The components were fabricated in a milling center and finalized. After soft tissue relocation, the individual PEEK healing abutments were placed. Then, after a 3-week rest period, a screw-retained FDP fabricated out of monolithic zirconium oxide was inserted without further soft tissue compression.

Individual healing abutments fabricated out of PEEK might be an interesting therapy option for shaping the soft tissue around implants and can be supplemented as a straightforward tool especially in fully digital workflows.