Bone resorption of the residual alveolar ridge under complete dentures appears to be inevitable. In some patients extensive morphologic changes result, and denture wearing can become extremely difficult. While this predicament is frequently encountered in the mandible, maxillary complete denture retention and stability may also be problematic. Some patients cannot adapt to complete dentures because of gagging, while others experience psychologic inability to accept are movable prosthesis. The proportion of edentulous patients with denture adaptation problems has not been established, and it probably varies with social and geographic background. However, even if those patients with severe difficulties constitute only a small percent of denture wearers, they represent a significant number of individuals requiring an alternative method of prosthodontic treatment.

A great deal of hope has been invested in various types of dental implants, but carefully and critically analyzed long-term results have been poor. However one particular method of implant anchorage based on osseointegration, that is , a direct contact between living bone tissue and the implant, has proved successful. Osseointegrated dental implants were used as abutments for fixed partial dentures in edentulous jaws in some 700 patients between 1965 and 1982. The demands of a 75% 5-years success rate were exceeded according to systematic follow-ups of all the treated patients.

Fixed dental prostheses have been used with designs that have varied slightly during the evolution of the method with differences between maxillary and mandibular prostheses.

The purpose of this article is (1) to describe the current method for maxillary prosthodontic treatment with this implant method and (2) to present some short-term clinical results on a study of 21 patients treated with this method. (J.P.D. August 1983)