Prosthetic Abutment Characteristics and Implant-Abutment Maintenance

In addition to retaining an implant restoration, implant abutments can have different purposes. For example, healing abutments are used during the healing phase on single-stage implants to assist tissue healing or to modify tissue contours. Implant-angulated abutments are used to correct the implant angulation in case of positional errors, and other abutments are used to support temporary restorations until the complete integration of the implants. The goal of this chapter is to review the characteristics of the tissue interfaces around prosthetic abutments, and describe the influence of prosthetic abutment material, surface characteristics, presence of coatings, design and emergence profile, and other variables in implant maintenance. The chapter is supplemented with illustrations, clinical photos, and recommendations for improving prosthetic abutments that can reduce peri-implant diseases by enhancing their maintenance. Finally, it groups and describes different manufacturing defects detected in works completed by conventional dental laboratories.