Removal of fractured implant screws: any ideas?
I have recently seen a patient who was treated in a dental hospital in Norway and had 5 maxillary implants installed that were then restored with a BioMain ( CAD /Cam) framework. She apparently wore this successfully for 2 years and then came to see me as the entire framwork was mobile and later completely fell out. It seems that that the screws have fractured in all 5 of the implants. The patient was told by her dentist that they are 3.5/4.0mm Astra Osseospeed implants. However I am uncrtain about this as the screwheads in the framework are too large for the torque wrench that I have for this implant system. I have tried unsuccessfuly to use the required Astra attachment with the motor in reverse to remove the screws but was not able to retrieve them. I tried to vibrate the screw fragments with an untrasonic tip but was also unsuccessful. Of course the question remains as to why they fractured in the first place: I am assuming occlusal errors. But for now I am intent on trying to remove the screws so the 5, well osseointgrated,implants are not rendered completley unusable. Any more ideas?