VALIDATION OF maintenance requirements and Patient satisfaction of classical implant locators versus customized attachments in mandibular implant-retained overdentures

Objectives: This study was performed to compare implant locators versus customized mandibular implant-retained overdentures considering patient satisfaction and prosthesis maintenance.

Materials and Methods: 12 completely edentulous patients from the Prosthodontic department-Cairo University. For both groups, each patient received dental implants in the planned position. The patients were left for 3 months for implant healing. For group (A) the patients received two locator attachments.

The implants were exposed for group B, and healing collars were placed. After 2 weeks, the implants were scanned using an intraoral scanner. The relined denture was scanned from both the fitting and the occlusal side. The scanned fitting surface was used to create an inverted virtual model and proceeded till creating custom locator attachments. The attachments were then sterilized and placed in the patient's mouth as set before in the design. The pick-up of the housing was done in the same manner as group A.

The patients were recalled periodically at 3 months, 6 months, 9 months & 12 months respectively.

Results: Likert scale out of 5 was followed for patient denture satisfaction along 3, 6, 9, and 12 months for groups A & B. Applying an Independent t-test for significance evaluation between group A and group B as P-value > 0.05.

Conclusions: Customized locator attachments are highly recommended to retain mandibular overdentures, as they exhibited better maintenance values and more wear resistance with minimal loss of retention. Moreover, can be utilized by any presented implant system in the market,