Retention of a telescopic overdenture on customized abutments after the simulation of 1 year in function

Abstract

Background. Telescopic implant-retained overdentures are considered one of the most common treatment modalities for edentulous patients. Objectives. The aim of the study was to evaluate the retention of a BioHPP (biocompatible highperformance polymer) telescopic overdenture supported by customized abutments made from 2 different materials after the simulation of 1 year in function. Material and methods. Twelve models of a completely edentulous mandible were three-dimensionally (3D)-printed. Two implants and 2 groups of customized abutments – group Bio: BioHPP (n = 6) and group Ti: titanium (n = 6) – were used to support BioHPP telescopic overdentures. A vertically dislodging force was applied to each denture until its separation before and after 240,000 cycles of chewing simulation and 1,440 iterations of cyclic dislodgement for the simulation of 1 year in function in order to measure maximum tensile loads needed to dislodge the overdenture. Student’s t test and the paired t test were used for the statistical analysis (α = 0.05). Results. The initial and final retentive forces of the Ti group were significantly higher than in the case of the Bio group. A significant decrease in the retentive forces within the 2 groups after chewing simulation was observed and it was higher in group Ti; however, there was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups. Conclusions. The retentive force values for implant-retained telescopic overdentures significantly decreased after the simulation of 1 year of overdenture use. Both BioHPP and titanium are considered suitable abutment materials to retain telescopic overdentures.