Retention force of zirconia bar retained implant overdenture: Clinical comparative study between PEEK and plastic clips.

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate and compare retention force of two implants retained mandibular overdenture with zirconia bar using two different clip materials. Methodology: 20 completely edentulous patients (8 women and 12 men) with age ranged between 45 and 65 years were selected for this study. All patients received conventional maxillary and mandibular complete dentures. Two implants were inserted bilaterally in the mandibular canine region. CAD-CAM fabricated zirconia bar attachment was used to retain mandibular overdentures. Patients were randomly divided into two equal groups where poly-oxy-methylene (POM) clip was used for Group I and poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK) clip for Group II. Retention force was measured at time of overdenture insertion (T0), six months (T6), and twelve months (T12) later. Results: significant difference was recorded between the two groups in initial retention forces (T0) where PEEK clip group recorded higher retention forces in comparison to POM clip group (P=0.029). However, insignificant difference was observed at (T6) and (T12). Within group comparison of mean retention values at different follow-up periods revealed significant difference for both groups. Conclusion: Within parameters of this study, it could be concluded that both POM and PEEK retentive clips can provide comparable retention forces when used with zirconia bar during 12 months period of overdenture use. How to cite this article: Emera RMK, Altonbary GY. Retention force of zirconia bar retained implant overdenture: Clinical comparative study between PEEK and plastic clips. Int Dent Res 2019;9(3):92-8. Linguistic Revision: The English in this manuscript has been checked by at least two professional editors, both native speakers of English.