title: Rehabilitation of the edentulous mandible with a fixed implant-supported prosthesis.
abstract: Implant rehabilitation of an edentulous mandible presents significant improvements over conventional complete denture therapy with regard to patient satisfaction, and it can improve a patient's quality of life. Several implant prosthetic designs have been developed and successfully utilized in clinical practices. The goal of this article is to describe the prosthetic design and technical steps in the fabrication of a fixed implant-supported mandibular prosthesis. A technique is described in which the positioning of appropriately selected abutments is completed in a predictable manner.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This article discusses the prosthetic designs and technical steps in fabricating a fixed implant-supported mandibular prosthesis. Upon reading this article, the reader should: Understand the prosthetic design for the treatment of an edentulous mandible. Recognize the significance of the technical steps in this rehabilitation process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Restorative Dentistry, University of Washington, Seattle, USA. drshor@eastlakedental.com
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shor
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Ralf F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Schuler
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003758:Dental Implantation, Endosseous / Q000379:methods*; D017267:Dental Prosthesis Design / Q000379:methods*; D019094:Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported / Q000379:methods*; D003781:Denture Retention / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007575:Jaw, Edentulous / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003765:Models, Dental