Abstract
In prosthetic treatment with an implant-supported bridge, if the patient's desire of retaining as many of his/her teeth as possible is accepted, we often have trouble in the prosthetic design for a mixed dental arch containing a few residual teeth and implants. In this case, an implant-supported bridge of combining the electroforming technique and hybrid ceramics was fabricated, thus good results were obtained.
The patient was a 52-year-old woman who visited the clinic with the chief complaint of mobility of the anterior maxillary bridge and in the hope of implant treatment at the posterior maxillary defective sites. Examination at the initial visit indicated that the conservable teeth in the maxilla were teeth nos. 14, 12, and 23. Thus, implants were placed at teeth nos. 17, 15, 11, 22, 24, 26, and 27 sites and the residual teeth were prepared to fabricate the implant-supported bridge removable by the operator of combining electroforming and hybrid ceramics. Although only two years after completion of therapy have passed at present, good results are obtained.
It seems that the greatest merit of this method is to allow fabrication of the highest accurate prosthesis in long-span cases. Also, this method seems to be available in a mixed case containing natural teeth and implants as this.
