Glass fiber-reinforced abutments for dental implants. A pilot study

Titanium abutments in dental implants shine through all-ceramic crowns and therefore limit excellent esthetic results. Prototypes of tooth-colored fib er-reinforced abutments were investigated to avoid the shining-through effe ct. In vitro, the fracture strength was determined after thermal cycling an d mechanical loading of all-ceramic single crowns and four-unit bridges mad e of a fiber-reinforced composite. The suprastructures were adhesively fixe d onto fiber-reinforced implant abutments and compared with those fixed on standard titanium abutments. The median of the fracture strength of the tit anium-supported all-ceramic crowns was significantly higher than the median of crowns fixed onto the prototypes. But this value was still more than tw ice as high as the maximum loading force under oral conditions. No statisti cal difference was found between four-unit bridges made by fiber-reinforced composite inserted onto titanium abutments and those inserted onto fiber-r einforced abutments. Fiber-reinforced abutment prototypes for dental implan ts avoided the shining-through effect associated with metal abutments. Thei r load-bearing capacity after in vitro stress simulation was higher than th e maximum oral loading force. With some improvements, the fiber-reinforced implant abutments are therefore a promising alternative to titanium abutmen ts.