Prosthetic misfit of implant-supported prosthesis obtained by an alternative section method

PURPOSE Adequate passive-fitting of one-piece cast 3-element implant-supported frameworks is hard to achieve. This short communication aims to present an alternative method for section of one-piece cast frameworks and for casting implant-supported frameworks. MATERIALS AND METHODS Three-unit implant-supported nickel-chromium (Ni-Cr) frameworks were tested for vertical misfit (n = 6). The frameworks were cast as one-piece (Group A) and later transversally sectioned through a diagonal axis (Group B) and compared to frameworks that were cast diagonally separated (Group C). All separated frameworks were laser welded. Only one side of the frameworks was screwed. RESULTS The results on the tightened side were significantly lower in Group C (6.43 ± 3.24 µm) when compared to Groups A (16.50 ± 7.55 µm) and B (16.27 ± 1.71 µm) (P<.05). On the opposite side, the diagonal section of the one-piece castings for laser welding showed significant improvement in the levels of misfit of the frameworks (Group A, 58.66±14.30 µm; Group B, 39.48±12.03 µm; Group C, 23.13±8.24 µm) (P<.05). CONCLUSION Casting diagonally sectioned frameworks lowers the misfit levels. Lower misfit levels for the frameworks can be achieved by diagonally sectioning one-piece frameworks.