FAILURES IN FIXED PARTIAL DENTURES

Fixed prosthodontics treatment involves the replacement and restoration of teeth by artificial substitutes that are not readily removable from the mouth. Its focus is to restore function, aesthetics, and comfort of the patient. Treatment can range from the fairly straight forward restoration of a single tooth with a cast crown, replacement of one or more missing teeth with a fixed partial denture, to a highly complex restoration involving all the teeth in an entire arch or dentition. To achieve predictable success in this technically exacting and demanding field, there must be meticulous attention to every detail from the initial patient interview and diagnosis, through the active treatment phases, and to a planned schedule of follow-up care. Ever since the application of fixed partial dentures has found wide acceptance for prosthetic treatment, failures and complications have been of special concern. We focus on the various failure types of fixed prosthodontics, their causes, and precautions to be borne in mind to avoid the same and alternative treatment options to correct the patient's present situation in this book.