This assignment applies to all translations of the Work as well as to preliminary display/posting of the abstract of the accepted article in electronic form before publication. If any changes in authorship (order, deletions, or additions) occur after the manuscript is submitted, agreement by all authors for such changes must be on file with the Publisher. An author's name may be removed only at his/her written request. (Note: Material prepared by employees of the US government in the course of their official duties cannot be copyrighted.
Objective
In this article, we describe the planning phase and clinical procedure where a CAD CAM 3D printed master model was utilized to create a prefabricated—titanium reinforced—fixed provisional prosthesis for a full‐arch immediate loading after computer‐guided implant placement.
Clinical Considerations
The clinical procedure should be performed based on digital planning through an advanced surgical planning software and following the guidelines of full‐arch immediate loading protocol. The fact that the master model is fabricated under a computer‐assisted design and computer‐assisted manufacturing approach before implant placement makes the whole process considerably easier, faster, more precise and cheaper.
Conclusions
The use of a prefabricated—metal framework—provisional prosthesis for full‐arch immediate loading created from a 3D printed master model seems to be a predictable treatment option when computer‐guided implant surgery is performed.
Clinical Significance
The presented article described an interesting and innovative technique to optimize implant treatment based on digital technologies and 3D printing. The presented technique will help to diminish treatment costs and times especially for immediate loading procedures in fully edentulous patients because it allows to fabricate a prosthetic structure prior implant placement based on a 3D printing process.
Passive fit between prosthesis and implants or abutments is a significant factor in preventing mechanical and biologic failures of implant-supported prostheses. Therefore, impression techniques must transfer the 3D implant position as accurately as possible for a correct superstructure fabrication. A novel impression protocol that uses an individualized open tray design is proposed. It allows the clinician to splint the transfers between the copings, outside the impression area, and to the tray itself to create a rigid monoblock. Thus, distortions produced by the tear of impression material or by transfer abutments' micromovements during tray retrieval are limited and superstructure misfits are minimized. This technique is specifically recommended for long spanning or completely edentulous patients.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.