Journal of Dental Medicine

Background and Aims: The exact placement of impression copings in making accurate prosthesis is very important. In some cases, the implants need to be placed deeply subgingival, which could reduce the direct vision and ultimately reduce the precision of impression copings and subsequently, delivered prosthesis. This would be the cause of multiple complications such as delivery of ill-fitting prosthesis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the dental implant placement depth on the accuracy of impression coping connection by students.

Materials and Methods: This in-vitro and experimental study was conducted by 50 senior dental students. Four implants at different depths (0, 2, 4 and 6 mm) were placed in a model. After learning how to mount impression coping on implants, the students were asked to mount impression copings on all four implants. The samples were examined by an experienced prosthodontist using a magnifier with 4x magnification. Data were analyzed by statistical Cochran test (P<0.05(.

Results: The proper adapting rate of transfer copings, in subgingival implants with the depth of 0, 2, 4 and 6 mm were 100%, 62%, 58% and 20%, respectively. Statistically significant differences were observed between all groups (P<0.001).

Conclusion: The results showed that there was an inverse relationship between the increasing depth of the implants in the gingiva and the dentist’s ability to connect the impression copings properly.