Clinical Investigation of Mandibular Implant Overdenture

This project utilizes 30 subjects in a prospective, randomly assigned clinical study that uses a four-period, six sequence, three treatment crossover design to test the hypothesis that defined outcomes of variable implant overdenture treatments are equivalent. The project tests three overdenture treatment modalities, (1) four-implant, bar/clip-attached treatment, (2) two-implant, bar/clip-attached treatment, and (3) two-implant independently attached (O-ring) treatment. Each subject has four dental implants placed into the anterior mandible and new dentures are fabricated. After successful implant integration, subjects are randomly assigned to one of six sequences of treatment. Each treatment is followed for data collection for at least twelve months before the mandibular denture is modified to incorporate the next treatment in the sequence. Equivalence is measured in terms of prosthesis retention, stability, supporting and peri-implant tissue response, patient satisfaction/preference and treatment complications/failures.

Information from this study will assist dental practitioners during treatment planning in selecting appropriate and cost effective treatment choices. There is an inverse relationship between edentulism in the U.S. population and socioeconomic status. If less costly and simplified treatment methods are shown to provide an equivalent treatment outcome to more costly/complex methods, these simplified treatments can be used to treat a larger percentage of the edentulous population.