A clinical and cost-benefit evaluation of five facebows.

OBJECTIVE: Although the use of an arbitrary facebow and a full-sized articulator can reduce laboratory errors, many dentists do not use a facebow routinely because the procedure seems to be both intricate and time consuming. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate four earpiece-type facebows and the Snow facebow and to compare the time required for registration, the ease of manipulation, and cost-benefit considerations. METHOD AND MATERIALS: Twenty-five dentists who routinely used only the Snow facebow were asked, after a brief explanation, to perform registrations with the Snow facebow and four new-generation, earpiece-type facebows. The time required for each facebow registration was recorded. Dentists were also asked to fill out a questionnaire concerning ease of manipulation and cost-benefit factors. RESULTS: The Quick facebow was the facebow of choice of most of the dentists because of its favorable design and usage characteristics and cost-benefit ratio. The Artex 3-D facebow proved to be both the easiest and the fastest to manipulate. The Spring-bow and the Whip-Mix Quickmount were next in rank, and the Snow facebow scored the lowest. CONCLUSION: The use of earpiece-type facebows is both simple and fast, and practitioners judged this type of facebow to be superior to the Snow facebow.

Smoking and complications of endosseous dental implants.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to compare the incidence of the complications and survival rate related to dental implants among smokers and non-smokers, and to evaluate the influence of smoking by analyzing data of 959 implants placed in 261 patients during the years 1995 to 1998. METHODS: Patients were divided into 3 groups: non-smokers, mild smokers (up to 10 cigarettes per day) and heavy smokers (more than 10 cigarettes per day); smokers were divided into 2 subgroups according to duration of smoking (less or more than 10 years). Complications included minor (spontaneous implant exposure), major (spontaneous implant exposure requiring surgical intervention), and implant failure. The influence of smoking was analyzed for the type of implant cover screw and immediate versus late implantation. RESULTS: The overall failure rate was 2% for non-smokers and 4% for all smokers. Minor and major complications were found in higher percentages (46%) in the smoking groups than in the non-smoking group (31%). A significantly higher incidence of complications was found among smokers who received dental implants with high cover screws (63%) compared to those who received dental implants with flat cover screws (27%). CONCLUSIONS: This study establishes a relationship between implant complications and smoking, implant type (external or internal hex), and time of implantation as significant factors. A higher incidence of complications was found in the smoking group, especially in implants that had a high cover screw. Most complications will not lead to failures. Immediate implants failed less frequently than non-immediate implants. Limiting or reducing smoking habits will decrease complications of endosseous dental implants.