Cantilever bridge

CANTILEVER FIXED PARTIAL DENTURES

A cantilever fixed partial denture is used when support can be obtained only from one side of the edentulous space. These dentures have compromised support. The abutment teeth on the supporting side should be strong enough to withstand the additional torsional forces. Support can be obtained from more than one tooth on the same side of the edentulous space.

Advantages

• Very conservative design especially when a single abutment is involved.
• When secondary abutments are used, parallel preparation can be easily obtained because the abutments are adjacent to one another.
• Easy to fabricate.

Disadvantages

• Produces torquing forces on the abutment.
• Cannot be used to restore long span edentulous spaces.
• Minor design errors can affect the abutments in a large scale.

SPRING CANTILEVER FIXED PARTIAL DENTURES

This is a special cantilever bridge exclusively designed for replacing maxillary incisors but these dentures can support only a single pontic. Support is obtained from posterior abutments (usually a single molar or a pair of splinted premolars). A long resilient bar connector is used to connect the posterior retainer to the anterior.

Advantages

• Can be used for diastema cases.
• Metal crown retainers that require minimal tooth preparation, can be used in posterior teeth to replace missing incisors.

Disadvantages

• The connector bar may interfere with speech and mastication
• Deformation of the connector bar may produce coronal displacement of the pontic.
• There may be food entrapment under the connector bar, which may lead to tissue hyperplasia.

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