Bicon Bulletin - November 2005


UPDATE! Bicon World Symposium 2005

Bicon hosted over 450 dental professionals from 30 countries at its World Symposium in Boston, MA, USA from September 8-10, 2005. Bicon is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of its implant design. The design has remained unchanged since Mr. Thomas Driskell brought the implant to market in 1985. Over thirty-five dentists, researchers and engineers presented their work during the three-day symposium.

The keynote address was given by Doctor Jack Lemons from the University of Alabama. Doctor Lemons presented on the unique attributes of bone healing around fin designed implants. At the meeting, Bicon launched two revolutionary new products — SynthoGraft and the Brevis Overdenture Abutment System. SynthoGraft™ is a pure-phase beta tricalcium phosphate which is used for the regeneration or augmentation of bone. The Brevis™ Overdenture Abutment System is a short and simple overdenture system that will allow clinicians to more easily treat patients with overdentures.

 

Please visit www.bicon.com/20th to view the keynote video, lectures, photo gallery, Bicon timeline and much more!


Brevis™ Overdenture System

Bicon’s new Brevis™ Overdenture System is designed to work with all Bicon implant lengths and diameters, offering exceptional restorative simplicity and flexibility. The Brevis™ System provides a lower profile overdenture abutment which achieves 3.0mm of reduced height compared to the o-ring abutment system. The Brevis™ Abutment is packaged with its own pink titanium housing.

Brevis Chairside Technique

1. A registration of the denture’s occlusal relationship prior to the uncovering of the implants will assure that the denture is not inappropriately displaced by the abutment or its housing.

2. Uncover each implant using a small crestal incision and use the healing plug removal instrument to facilitate the removal of the black healing plug.

3. Use a shoulder depth gauge to facilitate the selection of the abutment height.

4. Place guide pins into the implants to determine their axial inclinations.

5. Rotate a combination of 0˚ and/or 15˚ angled abutments to achieve parallelism prior to their being seated. Brevis abutments are available in heights of 2.0, 4.0 and 6.0mm.

6. The top of the abutment may be marked with a felt tip pen to indicate the location of the abutment on the denture. Alternatively, place soft wax in the denture to act as a pressure indicator to determine the relative position of the abutments.

7. Place a Brevis housing on each abutment
intra-orally.

8. Liberally relieve denture to accommodate the Brevis housings. Confirm clearance for housings by placing the denture over the housings.

9. Remove the Brevis housings and place a piece of rubber dam over the abutments to act as an apron to prevent acrylic from locking onto an abutment. Ensure that the rubber dam protects the undercut of the abutment from acrylic, by placing it above the shoulder of the abutment. Place a Brevis housing back onto each abutment.

10. Inject Vaseline™ under the rubber dam aprons to serve as an additional precaution to prevent acrylic from locking under the abutments during the chairside pickup of the Brevis housings.

11. Inject flowable acrylic around the Brevis housings and into the relieved portions of the existing denture.

12. Place the denture into the mouth and instruct patient to clench bilaterally on cotton rolls to assure proper bilaterally uniform seating of the denture.

13. Polish the excess acrylic around the Brevis housings after the removal of the rubber dam.

14. Radiograph of two Bicon implants and Brevis abutments. It is paramount that overdentures be completely tissue borne and only implant retained. If the acrylic is too viscous or only placed in the denture, it may cause displacement of the housing resulting in a misalignment of the housing and excessive wear of the rubber o-rings.

Note: If the denture is inadvertently locked onto the Brevis abutment, it is advisable to tap it off rather than attempting to cut it off.

The denture may be notched to facilitate the placement of a tapping instrument. Either the denture will be removed from the abutment or the abutment will be removed from the implant.

 

Product News

NEW! SynthoGraft™: The Next Generation of Regeneration™!
A synthetic, biocompatible and resorbable granulate ceramic made of pure-phase beta-tricalcium phosphate (Ca3(PO4)2) which is used as a matrix for oral and maxillofacial bone regeneration or augmentation. SynthoGraft’s unique structure provides increased stability and its micro-porosity and nano-porosity allow for rapid vascularization and subsequent resorption. SynthoGraft achieves its greatest efficacy when it is mixed with the patient’s own blood. Other additives, including autogenous bone particles, are neither needed nor recommended.


NEW! Bicon Surgical Manual: This new manual will provide clinicians with an understanding of proven surgical techniques for the successful placement and restoration of Bicon implants. The Bicon Surgical Manual is available on the Bicon website and as a printed manual. (Part # 260-103-001)


NEW! Maxillary Anterior Seating Checklist: The superior gingival aesthetics of Bicon restorations are known worldwide by clinicians and patients alike. It is in the maxillary anterior that these aesthetics can truly shine; however, it is also in the maxillary anterior where clinicians must follow precise Bicon techniques. Please be sure to visit and download the new Maxillary Anterior Seating Checklist online.

UPDATED! Metal Impression Posts: Bicon has eliminated Metal Impression Posts from its product line, since clinicians have found the Plastic Impression Posts to be easier to use. However, Bicon will still be offering the 2.0mm and 3.0mm Titanium Implant Analogs.

 

 

Recent Publications / Abstracts

• Gentile, M., Chuang, S.K., & Dodson, T., Survival Estimates and Risk Factors for Failure with 6 x 5.7 mm Implants, The International Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Implants, In press, November/December 2005.
• Dibart, S., Warbington, M., Su, M.F., Skobe, Z., In Vitro Evaluation of the Implant-Abutment Bacterial Seal: The Locking Taper System, The International Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Implants, Vol. 20, No. 5, p. 732-737, September 2005.
• Coelho, P.G. , Lemons, J.E., IBAD Nanothick Bioceramic Incorporation on Metallic Implants for Bone Healing Enhancement. From Physico Chemical Charaterization to In-vivo Performance Evaluation, NSTI-Nanotech, Vol. 1, 2005.
• Kim, C., Gwangju,Chung, Fit of Fixture/ Abutment Interface of Internal Connection Implant Systems, AO Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL March 2005.
• Coelho, P.G., Lemons, J.E., Morphological and Chemical Assessment of Two Thin-film Ion Beam Assisted Deposited Bioceramic Coated Surfaces on Ti-6Al-4V Implants, AO Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, 2005.

 

2005 Bicon Educational Opportunities & Events

As always, our calendar is replete with educational opportunities for you, your referring dentists, staff, and laboratory technicians. Courses, lectures, events, and exhibits are frequently added, so please refer to our online calendar for the most up-to-date information.