Pick up issues with Zest Locators: any suggestions?
I am having attachment (pick up)  issues with Zest Locators. Many times after I do the pick up with the black processing male I have difficulty switching out to the retentive male afterwards. Either it does not stay in the metal housing or it won’t seat fully. This includes when I try to swap out old males with new ones. Does anyone else have these issues? Does anyone have any suggestions? The implants are usually aligned well. When you do not have one out of 4 aligned well, have you tried their angled abutments? These abutments seem to add a lot of height to the attachment.  I have used other systems , such as balls with o-rings. What I don’t like about ball types is their tall height. Anybody have any recommendations?
3 Comments on Pick up issues with Zest Locators: any suggestions?
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Dr. Vipul G Shukla
12/4/2012
Hello colleague,
In my opinion, ZEST's LOCATOR system is the best thing that happened to overdentures in a long time! However, if you do not pick up correctly using a HEAVY body impression material, then it will give you grief all the way till the end. Always use a closed custom tray with enough relief for the impression copings. Always use heavy or medium body material. Do not put too much force on the abutment areas, have a lot of escape holes in custom tray. Finally, you need a lab that will not drop the ball, and have all the correct parts for processing. For chairside pick-up of existing denture, you need the correct parts ordered. Make sure the acrylic flows into the groove around the male, dont forget the white ring either. After this critical step, rest is easy, provided you are using the LOCATOR core tool and not an explorer to change rubbers! Good Luck!
m2prosth
12/4/2012
From your query, it appears the problem is occurring with direct pick-up of the attachments. If replacement males are not seating then there is probably an obstruction. If they are falling out of the housing then they are not seating completely; same problem. My guess is excess resin at the rim of the housing preventing proper insertion of the replacement male. Using a sharp blade to score the rim of the housing might remedy the situation; if you have a microscope, examine the rim. The Locator system is not fool-proof but the parts do fit very well, therefore I am concluding that there is a physical obstruction.
Usually I do not use angled abutments unless placement error is severe, more commonly I will use the extended range males for off-axial problems. However, using multiple Locator abutments can develop unfavorable fulcrum, causing the prosthesis to dislodge. Either a bar design or a more resilient attachment is sometimes required.
Terry C
1/1/2013
Locators work very well 99% of the time and trouble shooting them is fairly easy. We suggest that if you are starting from scratch will a new denture you use a custom tray and use nothing more than medium body impression material around the impression
pieces and soft tissue. Anything more and you run the risk of compressing the tissue, which would create almost a trapoline effect with the denture when you try to seat it. We generally incorparate the attachemts into the base plate for both bite registrations and tooth tryins, which lets you know what the fit will be on your final. We then process the attachments into the final denture base. If you are doing a chairside pick up the same rules apply. Only allow the patient to go into LIGHT centric while your pick up material cures. I think a better way to block out around the abutment is a postal stamp size piece of rubber dam. If you have inserts coming out there is material inside the housing....use a microscope to inspect the inside of the housing. I hope this helps
