Implant-based prostheses can be cement-retained, screw-retained or a combination of both (Fig 1). By definition, an abutment is a component that is intermediate between the implant and the restoration and it is usually screw...

Advantages of abutment-supported prostheses are 1) When implants are not parallel to each other, the use of angulated abutments can "correct" for the non-parallelism 2) Angulated abutments are available for a screw-retained prosthesis and 3) Custom abutments can be...

The majority of commercially available implants are variations of Brånemark’s original design of a screw which he coined as 'fixtures'. This has been the starting point for numerous current market variations that incorporate convergent themes of implant material...