Use of luting agents with an implant system: Part II.

The purposes of this study were to determine the amount of die space necessary to reduce seating discrepancies of castings cemented onto implant abutments and to determine the effect that this space created for the luting-agent has on crown retention. Noble metal castings were made with 0.000 inch, 0.001 inch, 0.002 inch, and 0.003 inch spacing for premanufactured titanium implant abutments. The castings were cemented onto the abutments with three permanent luting agents. Seating discrepancies of each casting/abutment combination were measured, and the castings were pulled from the abutments by use of tensile force. The results of this study indicate that the use of die spacing decreased seating discrepancies and increased retentive values under the test conditions.