Conventional mandibular dentures for patients with severly atrophic mandibles often times present problems with retention, phonetics, function, and pain due to instability. Endosseous implants have been successfully used to restore edentulous mandibles with implant supported fixed bridges, hybrid prosthetic dentures and removable overdenture prostheses. However, oral rehabilitation utilizing two to four implants to support mandibular overdentures has been shown to have success rates of approximately 96% with implants placed in a one or two stage procedure. Numerous authors have also addressed patient satisfaction with the mandibular overdentures. Meijer et al. has reported that patients with two implant-supported mandibular overdentures had higher satisfaction scores than patients who had complete denture treatment.

Read the rest of this entry »