Eastman Dental-Developed Technique Cuts Time in Half

Dr. Ercoli

As technology evolves, almost everything– from communication to dinner to surgery– has become available faster and faster.  But does speeding up the process compromise the quality of the end result?

Eastman Institute for Oral Health at the University of Rochester Medical Center set out to answer that question by assessing the effectiveness of an experimental technique it developed more than 10 years ago, that cuts the time in half of the comparable, conventional method of fabricating implant-supported bridges.

By age 44, about 69 percent of all adults are missing at least one tooth due to injury, decay or gum disease. Many of these people have traditional dental bridges to replace their missing teeth. This new  procedure, which also allows fixed implant bridge-teeth to be placed at the same time hopeless teeth are removed, could translate to significantly lower cost for the patient, as well as much less pain, stress and time away from work.

After a 10-year trial period and a rigorous peer review process, the results of this five-year study are published in the latest issue of The International Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Implants, and shows that not only is the new technique faster, but its conceptual design allows a better fit of the final bridge-tooth, and the technique lends itself to a high success rate, despite the provider’s experience level.

In the early 2000’s, Dr. Carlo Ercoli, associate professor and chair/program director of the Prosthodontics Division at EIOH and his team, developed this technique that shortens the time needed in the dental chair and the lab to fabricate the implant bridges for a good fit. (Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, Vol 96, No. 3).  Since new techniques always need validation, the more recent five-year study provides the evidence that this innovative technique is effective, easily adopted by less experienced clinicians and leads to better fit of the implant bridge.

Eastman Institute for Oral Health at the University of Rochester Medical Center has always been at the forefront of dental implant development and technology. Eastman Dental Center was selected some 30 years ago as one of the leading test centers for dental implant treatment before the technology of osseointegrated dental implants became widespread in the U.S. and abroad.

The other authors include Alessandro Geminiani, DDS, Heeje Lee, DDS, Changyong Feng, PhD, and Carlo E. Poggio, DDs, MSD, PhD.

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