Statement of the problem: Numerous articles emphasize the importance of passivity of implant-prosthetic component interfaces. Nonpassive interfaces can lead to bone loss, abutment fracture, and connecting screw breakage.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate 3 postcasting techniques for the correction of non-passive fit between a cast bar superstructure and its interface with an implant abutment.
Material and methods: Thirty implant Hader bars were fabricated based on a metal model composed of two 3.8/4.5 HL PME titanium implant abutments. Initial measurements were collected on the y-axis of the left implant abutment-bar interface by using a M2001ARS toolmaker microscope. Means were calculated from buccal, distal, and lingual measurements on each specimen. Ten specimens were sectioned, indexed, and corrected by casting the same alloy (group 1). Ten specimens were sectioned, indexed, and corrected by soldering (group 2). The last 10 specimens were submitted to 2 cycles of electrical discharge machining on a MedArc M-2 EDM machine (group 3). Postcorrection measurements were collected on the 3 groups. A 1-way ANOVA and a Tukey-Kramer test at a 0.05 significance level were performed on the 3 groups after the corrective techniques.
Results: Initial gap means were 192 microm for group 1, 190 microm for group 2, and 198 microm for group 3. There was a significant difference (P<0.05) in gap means between group 1 (15 microm) and group 2 (72 microm) as well as between group 2 and group 3 (7.5 microm) after each correction technique. No difference was detected between group 1 and group 3.
Conclusion: The electrical discharge machining group resulted in the smallest mean gap distance of 7.5 microm, thus meeting the criteria of passive fit (within 10 microm) described in the literature.