Improving Implant Success Using Custom Healing Abutments

Dental implants are a highly successful dental treatment modality for replacing missing teeth. For anterior implant restorations, customized healing abutments can improve the esthetic and the emergence profile. Patient satisfaction plays a significant role in determining the success of an implant case. As a result, more and more patients are becoming informed about procedures and have high expectations regarding their dental treatment.

Stock Healing Abutments

Implant sites are often fitted with circular healing abutments to facilitate tissue formation. However, this type of healing abutment does not represent the natural emergence of a tooth from the bone.

Different types of stock healing abutments attempt to come closer to mimicking a realistic emergence profile. Some of these abutments have a flared-out design. However, even with this, they still need to create an ideal emergence profile.

When these abutments are used, the implant restoration will be fabricated to match the soft tissue area created by the stock healing abutments. Unfortunately, this results in the restoration trapping food, not fitting passively, and often will not seat properly. Moreover, tissue recession can occur when the soft tissue and restoration do not fit well.

Custom Healing Abutments

An individual’s natural teeth are responsible for defining the shape of their surrounding soft tissues. However, due to the absence of support and the healing process, the soft-tissue contour changes immediately after removing the tooth. Therefore, the soft-tissue contours must be preserved for natural-looking dental implant reconstruction.

Using a custom healing abutment can help improve the structure and support of soft tissue contours to ensure a successful implant case. Custom-designed healing abutments look more natural and provide a more comfortable fit. By using a digital surgery guide, they can be fabricated.

Custom Healing Abutment Design

With this type of treatment planning, a custom healing abutment can be fabricated. Titanium cylinders are bonded together with PMMA to fabricate the abutment.

Here’s how you do it:

1. The software allows you to import a DICOM file from a cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scan, as well as an STL file capturing the dentition.
2. Combine the files and digitally place the restoration.
3. When placing the implant, be sure to avoid the alveolar nerve.
4. Placing the implant within the software is as simple as identifying it and placing it where you want it.
5. The ideal position for the implant can be achieved by locating the appropriate surgery kit and materials.

Benefits of A Surgical Guide

At this point, a digital guide is designed and ready for fabrication.

Burbank Dental Lab surgical guides provide the following features: 

• To check for precision, each guide is built on a solid model.
• The FDA has approved the resin.
• The surgical system being used will determine how precision guide rings should be placed in the guides.
• It enhances workflow efficiency when turnaround times are short.

A successful implant case requires the proper management of tissue. The guided surgery method makes it possible to design and fabricate custom immediate-load temporary restorations like healing abutments. As a result, the implant site will heal properly, allowing the tissue to be shaped to its ideal shape.

Custom-designed healing abutments can prevent spaces from forming and encourage the interproximal papilla to develop. As well as improving oral hygiene, it also enhances aesthetics. In accordance with the details of the ideal implant placement, a guided surgery appliance is constructed based on the data gathered from the surgical plan.

Additionally, a digital scan body can be placed in the plan.

You can use this to create the custom healing abutment that will help the tissue heal in the ideal way. This will create a natural emergence profile for the final restoration.

For tissue health, guided surgery can provide the following benefits:

1. The natural shape of the tissue and an ideal emergence profile from the custom healing cap.
2. A temporary that is designed to provide an ideal emergence profile for immediate-load applications. In most cases, the implant abutment and titanium base come together in two parts. Ideally, they should be bonded intraorally. Once the abutment has been torqued according to the manufacturer’s instructions, it is bonded to the base.

The following conditions must be met for an immediate load implant: 

• Implants used in this case must be capable of supporting immediate loading. 
• A successful case depends on the quality and quantity of bone. 
• It is essential that the implant is torqued to the recommended NcM to ensure success.

Soft tissue contours must mimic natural tooth contours to create highly esthetic restorations that function naturally. In addition to reducing issues such as food impaction, a properly contoured healing abutment can improve implant restoration outcomes significantly.

Soft tissue contours must mimic natural tooth contours to create highly esthetic restorations that function naturally. In addition to reducing issues such as food impaction, a properly contoured healing abutment can improve implant restoration outcomes significantly.

You can gain a great deal of accuracy and efficiency through digital planning. Speak with an implant planning specialist at Burbank Dental Lab today.