Is There Association Between Abutment Angulation And Prosthetic Screw Failures?

Objectives: Prosthetic screw failures are common and in most of cases can be fixed in a routine maintenance.
However, its recurrence is usual and failures’ reasons are very often unclear. Therefore, the aim of this
study was to associate prosthetic screw failures - loosening or fracture - with straight or angled
abutments
Methods: The sample comprised 916 implants (Implacil De Bortoli, Sao Paulo, Brazil) placed in 183 patients treated
at the University of São Paulo (USP). Prosthetic time in function varied from 1 to 14 years. Two groups
were formed according to the type of abutment: Straight (G1) and angled (G2). For G1 - 91.1% of the
examined implants showed no failures and 8.9% reported some screw loosening or fracture
Results: For G2, the percentage with and without failures was 91.3% and 8.7%, respectively. Chi-square test was
applied for statistical evaluation. There was no statistical difference between groups (P = 0.669).
Conclusions: Clinical findings did not show any association between abutment angulation and prosthetic screw failure.