Bone-level Zirconia Implant Fracture in a Nickel-allergic Patient: a case report

Despite the advances in dentistry, single tooth replacement is limited to two broad treatment modalities: removable and fixed dental prostheses. On the one hand, it is hypothetically possible for removable partial dentures (RPDs) to replace single teeth defects. However, in practice, there are at least three relative contraindications precluding their use. First, RPDs encourage bioburden build up resulting in plaque index, gingival index, calculus index, and probing depth increase [1]. Second, studies have shown that RPDs increase the chances for dental caries. In a prospective randomized clinical trial, patients that wore RPDs had a 60% greater incidence of new and recurrent carious lesions [2]. Third, RPDs can present with significant fabrication defects. The high prevalence of defects to include base material cracks and holes, missing or chipped denture teeth, broken or distorted clasps and rests result in the lack of intraoral stability [3] and function which contributes to patient dissatisfaction.