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

Abstract

Background: The class II Kennedy mandibular removable partial denture has many problemsas the different nature of support as well as crossing the arch for stabilization. The Target of thiswork was to evaluate the changes that occurs in the supporting structures of the implantsplaced 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 unmodifiedmandibular Kennedy Class II. For each patient, three implants were placed at the premolar/molarmandibular region. All the implants were immediately loaded following an Immediate FunctionalLoading Protocol. Patients were divided into two equal groups; Group A: received superstructuresthat were splinted with acrylic resin while Group B; received superstructures that were splintedwith metal. Radiographic evaluation using dental CT was carried out at intervals of 0, 6, 12 and24 months after implant surgery.Results: The results comprised the assessment of the bone height changes surrounding thethree implants placed unilaterally in the posterior mandibular areas of ten patients as a result of twodifferent splinting materials; the acrylic resin and the chrome cobalt metal alloy. Statistical analysisshowed that there was a statistically significant difference in the mean bone height values along thewhole study period between both groups (P ≤ 0.05) where there was more favorable bone heightvalues 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 splintingand immobilization of immediately loaded implants by metallic superstructures reduced thetransmission of micro-motion to the implant bodies and improved peri-implant bone reaction incomparison with the use of the less rigid acrylic resin material.