Implant prosthodontics: What next?

Treatment concepts that are "ideal" from a medical perspective, representing an excellent simulation of missing tissues (alveolar ridge, teeth), are not automatically tantamount to high treatment cost and difficult clinical procedures. An analysis of different treatment concepts has shown that relatively simple implant-borne solutions are made possible by preserving and integrating elements of the residual dentition; by not including complicated and technically elaborate constructions (such as screw fixation, attachments, splints); and by using prefabricated components (abutments shaped extraorally; conical crowns). In this context, there cannot be a single clear-cut answer to the question, "Implant prosthodontics: What next?"; it can be answered only in terms of probabilities. There is one certainty: implant prosthodontics is here to stay, whatever its path and whatever its destination, and it will become established as an essential-a constituent part of current-day dental practice. As so often happens with medical progress, what once was a very specialized treatment modality is becoming a standard procedure. The concomitant cost reduction will allow us to apply treatment concepts that include implant procedures in a much larger number of cases than today.