Precision Attachment Partial Denture

An alternative to clasps, attachments are defined as mechanical devices for the fixation, retention and stabilization of prostheses. Attachments act as stress redirectors and absorbers and their function is to preserve soft tissue and bone as well as provide retention.

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Precision attachments could be extracoronal and intracoronal. Attachments are used as alternatives to clasps in removable partial denture therapy, which gives both an esthetic and functional outcome. The combination of partial dentures with crowns and attachments cases are sometimes a challenge for clinicians. The Removable team works directly with the Crown & Bridge team to precisely survey and design all crowns that will become abutments for partials.
An attachment is defined as a mechanical device for the fixation, retention and stabilization of prostheses. It includes frictional, internal, intracoronal, extracoronal, key-key way, parallel, precision and slotted types. The correct use of attachments may overcome both physical and psychological problems associated with conventional RPD designs. Just as patients’ needs differ, so do attachments.
Attachments act as stress redirectors and absorbers. Their function is to preserve soft tissue and bone as well as provide retention. The direct retention function of precision attachments prove to be more efficient than clasps, but the clinical situations in which they are used require careful assessment, as in all cases the patient’s standard of oral hygiene must be good and this factor is of even greater importance to the success of a precision attachment partial denture.

Guidelines to be Followed in Precision Attachment Cases

The abutment teeth selected for precision attachment in removable partial denture should be splinted together.
The length of the attachment is more important than the width.
A full length, narrow attachment is preferable to a short, wide attachment.
The length of the attachment to be embedded in the abutment tooth for proper fabrication of the prosthesis is governed by the height of the clinical crown of the tooth.
The length of the attachment to be embedded in the abutment tooth for proper fabrication of the prosthesis is governed by the height of the clinical crown of the tooth. If this is not feasible, pairs of precision attachments on similar teeth bilaterally should be of equal length.