The value of original components

Standard in the course of treatment

Cleaning and disinfection of prosthodontic abutments

Carsten Fischer, Sirius Ceramics Carsten Fischer GmbH, Frankfurt a.M.

Implant abutments are a fundamental part of prosthodontic rehabilitation. Implant abutments are in direct contact with peri-implant soft tissue in the subcrestal zone and are by definition medical products whose cleaning and disinfection procedures are of great clinical importance.

The preparation and sterilization for ready-made and customized CAD / CAM abutments should be given a fixed place in the course of the implant-prosthodontic treatment. Preparation and cleaning of semi-critical or critical medical products that are associated with the mucous membrane are subject to valid standard procedures conforming to the Medical Devices Act. Abutments made using CAD / CAM technique without appropriate preparation show contamination. Whether the abutments are made centrally or in a laboratory, is irrelevant here. In hybrid structures, residue resulting from adherence to the titanium base, polishing residues, and other surface deposits may be present in the peri-implant submucosal area of the abutment.

Using standardized reworking of the abutment for removal of debris such as organic and inorganic impurities, milling chips, coolant or chemical residues of the surface treatment, the structures can be proven to be antibacterially cleaned and preserved.

The risk of infection from insufficiently cleaned abutments cannot yet be clearly estimated. Initial studies show that inadequately prepared abutments lead to significantly increased peri-implant bone resorption.

According to Dr med. Peter Gehrke and Carsten Fischer, cleaned surfaces of the prosthodontic abutments with defined residual roughness can be determined for instance, by applying the validated concept for the preparation of implant abutment structures.

  1. Previously
    Significant contamination on titanium abutment.
  2. Afterwards
    Significantly lower levels of contamination after correctly executing the Panther-Abutment-Surface processing protocol followed by FCS cleaning.