A prospective evaluation of Frialoc implants with ball-abutments in the edentulous mandible: 1-year results

Several surgical and prosthetic concepts for the treatment of patients with mandibular atrophy and related lower denture problems are proposed and described in the literature. The present study discusses and evaluates the use of a new single-stage implant and overdenture with ball-attachment for this purpose. This study evaluates the clinical performance of the implants and abutments and addresses surgical and prosthetic complications that were encountered. Eighteen fully edentulous patients received two, single-stage Frialoc implants (Friadent, Mannheim, Germany). The implants were left to osseointegrate for 3 months and were subsequently provided with ball-abutments and loaded through a mandibular overdenture. After 1-year of clinical service, two implants were lost, which accumulated to a 1-year survival rate of 93.9% (SE 4.2%). Patient satisfaction was high, and prosthetic complications and postinsertion maintenance were minimal. Three abutments loosened, one of which subsequently broke after 5 months of loading. Retightening of the attachment (gold matrix) was performed on seven occasions in four patients. Soft tissue response was excellent. Although minor hypertrophy of the peri-implant mucosa was observed, hardly any marginal bone loss between baseline and 1-year observations occurred. Short-term results indicate that mandibular implant overdenture treatment by means of two ball-abutments, using Frialoc implants and prosthetic components, leads to good clinical results, both from an objective and a subjective perspective.