Splinting osseointegrated implants and natural teeth in rehabilitation of partially edentulous patients. Part I: laboratory and clinical studies.

A significant clinical consideration in the restoration of partial edentulism with implant and tooth-supported prostheses is whether implants and natural teeth abutments should be splinted, and if so, in what manner. This article presents a review of laboratory and clinical studies related to splinting. Stress analysis studies reveal high stress concentration around the implant neck when rigidly connected to teeth. This was not borne out in in vivo studies in short-span bridges. While stress absorbing elements have been advocated to redistribute and reduce stress concentration away from the implant neck where bone resorption is often seen, finite element analysis and photo-elastic studies demonstrate that such stress absorbing elements may be effective only when their resiliency is in the same order of magnitude as the periodontal ligament. Clinical studies reporting life table statistics in combined implant and tooth restorations do not show adverse effects of splinting teeth to implants. These studies, however, are mostly short-term reports on survival with results that are as yet inconclusive. The issue of connecting with rigid or non-rigid connectors remains unresolved with a growing body of information favouring retrievable short-span rigid connection to non-mobile teeth. Root intrusion is a potential clinical hazard of non-rigid connection.