Assessment of two different Splinting materials on the immediate functional loading of Implants placed in mandibular unilateral free end saddle cases

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Lecturer, Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Oral and Dental Medicine, Cairo University.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Oral and Dental Medicine, Cairo University

Abstract

Background: The class II Kennedy mandibular removable partial denture has many problems
as the different nature of support as well as crossing the arch for stabilization. The Target of this
work was to evaluate the changes that occurs in the supporting structures of the implants
placed in class II Kennedy cases as a result of two different types of splinting materials.
Materials and Methods: Thirty implants were placed in ten patients with unmodified
mandibular Kennedy Class II. For each patient, three implants were placed at the premolar/molar
mandibular region. All the implants were immediately loaded following an Immediate Functional
Loading Protocol. Patients were divided into two equal groups; Group A: received superstructures
that were splinted with acrylic resin while Group B; received superstructures that were splinted
with metal. Radiographic evaluation using dental CT was carried out at intervals of 0, 6, 12 and
24 months after implant surgery.
Results: The results comprised the assessment of the bone height changes surrounding the
three implants placed unilaterally in the posterior mandibular areas of ten patients as a result of two
different splinting materials; the acrylic resin and the chrome cobalt metal alloy. Statistical analysis
showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the mean bone height values along the
whole study period between both groups (P ≤ 0.05) where there was more favorable bone height
values and hard tissue reaction in Group B (metal splinting) than Group A (Acrylic splinting).
Conclusion: Within the limitation of this study, it can be concluded that the rigid splinting
and immobilization of immediately loaded implants by metallic superstructures reduced the
transmission of micro-motion to the implant bodies and improved peri-implant bone reaction in
comparison with the use of the less rigid acrylic resin material.
 

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