Predicting Esthetics in Implant Dentistry Using Multiplanar Angulation: A Technical Note

Although the permucosal site of implants can be made to coincide with tooth position, the problem of aligning multiple abutments remains. To use the maximum amount of available bone, an implant must often be placed at an angle to the long axis of the prosthetic replacement tooth, and it also can deviate mesiodistally. This paper discusses a technique using trial abutments to create parallelism while ensuring that each abutment is ideally positioned with respect to the final restoration. The procedure also encourages patient acceptance by transferring the appearance created by a preliminary diagnostic waxup through to the finished prosthesis. Keywords: diagnostic waxup, hex guide pins, implant-abutment parallelism, osseointegrated implants, surgical template