title: Fit of screw-retained fixed implant frameworks fabricated by different methods: a systematic review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to review the published literature investigating the accuracy of fit of fixed implant frameworks fabricated using different materials and methods.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comprehensive electronic search was performed through PubMed (MEDLINE) using Boolean operators to combine key words. The search was limited to articles written in English and published through May 2010. In addition, a manual search through articles and reference lists retrieved from the electronic search and peer-reviewed journals was also conducted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 248 articles were retrieved, and 26 met the specified inclusion criteria for the review. The selected articles assessed the fit of fixed implant frameworks fabricated by different techniques. The investigated fabrication approaches were one-piece casting, sectioning and reconnection, spark erosion with an electric discharge machine, computer-aided design/computer-assisted manufacturing (CAD/CAM), and framework bonding to prefabricated abutment cylinders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cast noble metal frameworks have a predictable fit, and additional fit refinement treatment is not indicated in well-controlled conditions. Base metal castings do not provide a satisfactory level of fit unless additional refinement treatment is performed, such as sectioning and laser welding or spark erosion. Spark erosion, framework bonding to prefabricated abutment cylinders, and CAD/CAM have the potential to provide implant frameworks with an excellent fit; CAD/CAM is the most consistent and least technique-sensitive of these methods.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, University of Western Austrialia, Crawley, WA, Australia. jaafar_abduo@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Jaafar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abduo
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lyons
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bennani
authors.forename: Neil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Waddell
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Swain
mesh_terms: D001863:Bone Screws; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D000044:Dental Abutments; D003735:Dental Casting Technique; D015921:Dental Implants; D019094:Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported; D003779:Denture Design; D003781:Denture Retention / Q000295:instrumentation; D003832:Denture, Partial, Removable; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D017755:Prosthesis Fitting
chemical_list: D015921:Dental Implants