Safer Implant Treatment by Design and Protocol

Intra-oral cementation is a common process for attaching crowns and bridges to natural teeth and dental implants. While fixedprosthetics are cemented onto natural teeth, dental implants may also be restored using a screw-in system. It is unfortunate that this latter installation system has inherent problems that render patients susceptible to misfit joints and treatment related cantilevers that increase both mechanical loads and block access to care. Treatment for related peri-implant disease can be uncomfortable, unpredictable, and expensive. Intra-oral cementation can reduce or eliminate several risk factors for complications related to the screw-in technique but has been plagued by complications related to poor prosthesis margins and residual subgingival cement. While removal of subgingival cement can often result in the resolution of related peri-implant disease, an intra-oral cementation system that prevents this problem would be a game changer.