The profile prosthesis: an aesthetic fixed implant-supported restoration for the resorbed maxilla.

This article discusses a method for the predictable fabrication of fixed detachable maxillary reconstructions that abut and precisely follow the gingival contours--regardless of implant angulation or position. The technique reorders the traditional implant protocol and delays abutment selection until the definitive tooth position has been established. In this manner, final abutment selection and framework design become a single, integrated process that results in improved aesthetics, reduced angulation difficulties, and elimination of the phonetic concerns traditionally associated with fixed maxillary prostheses.