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SUMMARY REVIEW/RESTORATIVE DENTISTRY
ORAL CANCER
3A| 2C| 2B| 2A| 1B| 1A|
Implant-supported cantilevered fixed partial dentures
Abstracted from
Zurdo j, Romao C, Wennstrom JL.
Survival and complication rates of implant-supported fixed partial dentures with cantilevers: a systematic review. Clin Oral Implant Res 2009; 20 (suppl. 4): S59S66
Address for correspondence: Jos Zurdo, Institute for Postgraduate Dental Education, Greenbank Building, Room 304, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
Question: How do the survival and complication rates of implant-supported fixed partial dentures with cantilevers compare with implanted-supported single tooth and implanted-supported fixed partial dentures without cantilevers?
Conclusions Data on implant-supported FPDP with cantilever extensions are limited and therefore survival and complication rates should be interpreted with caution. The incorporation of cantilevers into implant-borne prostheses may be associated with a higher incidence of minor technical complications
Commentary
The introduction of dental implants to clinical practice has increased the available prosthetic treatment options for the partially edentulous. This review by Zurdo et al. compares the clinical performance between implant-supported FPDP with and without a cantilever extension, after at least 5 years of use. In this study, the latter group also included the implant-supported single tooth prosthesis.1 A summary of the review findings (in the form of 5-year weighted means) is presented in Table 1.
I agree with this articles discussion that, the result of this study should be interpreted with caution because of the small sample size. Also threatening the validity of this review is how data were aggregated to calculate a summary statistic (weighted mean) from three very different study designs (ie, there was heterogeneity in study design). For example, included in this review was an article by Halg et al,2 which was a casecontrol study where only nine out of
Data sources Medline was used to search for relevant material forthe review.
Study selection Systematic reviews and longitudinal prospective/ retrospective studies (randomised controlled trials, controlled clinical trials and cohort studies) were chosen that reported outcomes following treatment with implant-supported fixed partial denture prostheses (FPDP) with cantilever extensions, after a mean function time of at least 5 years. Two independent reviewers preformed screening and data abstraction.
Data extraction and synthesis Five-year survival and technical complication rates were extracted, which included: loss of prosthesis, loss...