Post Load Failure

A while back implant companies started promoting fixtures with aggressive threads in an effort to satisfy our desire for increased initial stability. The overwhelming majority of my successful cases have been done with either a parallel walled tissue level fixture (Straumann TL or BSB One Stage) or Zimmer TSV. A couple of years ago Zimmer jumped on the bandwagon and developed the TSX fixture and I unfortunately took the bait. After placing 75-100 of these TSX fixtures using the same protocol as I would for the TSV I experienced entirely too many early post load failures like the one seen in the attached photo. After speaking with the folks at Zimmer it was determined that because I was not using the dense bone protocol, which I never use with the TSV, then I was causing these failures. At any rate I exchanged all of my TSX inventory for the traditional TSV and this experiment has taught me that I should stick with what has worked and continues to work while avoiding the tendency to try the latest and greatest new gadgets on the market. I firmly believe that implants are similar to classic music and the very best stuff has already been created.

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Dr. Carter