The Importance of the Appropriate Meso-Structure for the Success and Retention of Overdentures ? Case Series

Lack of retention and stability is one of the most challenging problems in wearing conventional dentures due to the atrophy of the alveolar ridge. In addition, pain or discomfort can be frequently present with a poor load-bearing capacity of the tissues. The treatment of choice, among several options for edentulous patients is the implant-supported overdenture prosthesis. Locators have been the most popular method used as an unsplinted anchorage system. Poorly angled or unfavorably positioned implants cause lack of parallelism, resulting in compromised esthetics, phonetics, and function. The use of overdentures with meso-structures and paralleled Locator attachments is one option for solving this problem. The purpose of this report was to present a case series, and document a step-by-step procedure to fabricate overdentures with meso-structures and to discuss the indications, contraindications, advantages and disadvantages of meso-structures.