Teeth play an essential role in people’s quality of life. The main purpose of implants is enabling people to have high quality, functional and aesthetic teeth to be used when original teeth are lost.
For this purpose, prostheses applied with different techniques and materials and made with support from implants are called “Implant Supported Prostheses”.
We can technically divide implant supported prostheses into two types:
1) Fixed Implant Prosthesis:
These are prosthesis that cannot be removed by the user in any way and are mostly preferred by the patients.
This type of prosthesis is almost always preferred in case of single or a small number of teeth missing.
They are mostly preferred in cases of complete edentulism, but in order to achieve successful fixed prostheses, the right conditions must be created and planning, material and technique must be selected correctly.
Fixed Implant Prostheses are Divided into Two:
a) Cemented (Adhered) Fixed Prostheses:
These prostheses are adhered on abutments which are screwed on implants. The basic logic of this feature is like crowns-bridges on the teeth. It cannot be removed by the patient, and when necessary, physicians cannot easily remove it.
To remove it, it is necessary to apply a blow or cut out the prosthesis. In case of complete edentulism, a minimum of 6 implants must be made.
Choice of material:
Metal supported porcelain crowns, zirconium supported porcelain crowns, monolithic zirconium and BioHPP infrastructure composite are used.
b) Hybrid (Screwed) Fixed Prostheses:
These prostheses are fixed to the abutments screwed to the implants. They are more preferred by physicians and patients every day. They cannot be removed by users, but can be easily removed and worn when desired by the physician. Thus, it can be removed when desired, the implant periphery maintenance can be done easily and fractures etc. problems can be easily repaired. In case of complete edentulism, a minimum of 4 implants are required.
Material of choice:
Metal-based zirconium porcelain materials can be used, but soft materials such as composite and enhanced acrylic are more preferred.
2) Removable Implant Supported Prostheses:
These prostheses are prostheses that are supported by both implants and palate, and that the wearer can remove and wear whenever they want. It is especially preferred in cases where the bone tissue is weak and implants can provide little support and when people may have difficulty reaching the implant periphery due to bone loss and cleaning the prostheses.
There are different attachment systems that support the prosthesis. According to this system, they are named as locator attachment holder, ball attachment holder, telescope attachment holder.
In the first examination of the selection of these prostheses, it is necessary to make a decision by examining and analyzing according to the bone structure, wishes, expectations and supporting tissues of the patient. Patients who have no teeth but have sufficient bone level can also use implant supported prostheses.
