Building on the proceedings of the McGill conference: Implant-retained overdentures in an area of South America

Purpose: Since the McGill consensus conference, numerous reports have proposed the advantages of the 2-implant-retained overden-ture over the conventional denture in the restorative management of the edentulous mandible. The purpose of this article was to demonstrate the use of the 2-implant-retained overdenture in the restorative management of patients with edentulous mandibles in an impoverished population. Materials: To address the study's purpose, the investigators initiated a retrospective cohort study and enrolled a sample of subjects who had mandibular 2-implant overdenture treatment using the protocol described within. The primary predictor variable was whether the patient had man-dibular 2-implant overdenture treatment. The primary outcome variable was survival of mandibular 2-implant overdenture treatment as defined within. Results: The study sample included 35 patients each of whom had 2 mandibular implants placed for a total of 70 implants inserted with the purpose of retaining a mandibular overdenture. The mean clinical follow-up time was 74.7 months, during which there were no incidences of implant failure. Therefore, analytical and survival analyses could not be performed. Conclusion: Given the increase in quality of life and ease in implementation, clinicians should now be suggesting the mandibular 2-implant overdenture as the treatment of choice in the management of the edentulous mandible.