EFFECT OF SPLINTING AND NON SPLINTING OF IMPRESSION TRANSFER DURING IMPRESSION MAKING ON THE FIT OF MULTI-IMPLANT SUPPORTED FIXED FULL ARCH FRAMEWORKS. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS.

Statement of problem: The best impression technique should be followed during construction of prosthesis to eliminate poor fit of frameworks connected to implant to decrease undue stresses on the various elements. Purpose: The purpose of this review was to evaluate clinical studies comparing splinted and nonsplinted impression techniques regarding passive fit Materials and methods: An electronic search was performed in November 2017 of MEDLINE, and Cochrane Library databases with the key words implant, implants, impression, and impressions. To be included, the study had to investigate the passive fit of implant prosthesis. In addition, a hand search was performed to enrich the results for the time period from January 1980 to May 2017. After executing the search strategies, 3 articles were selected to be included in the review process. Results All of the selected articles were in clinical studies. Two studies preferred splinted over nonsplinted impressions. One study reported no difference. The meta-analysis of the three trials regarding framework fitting comparing splinted and non-splinted impression showed statistically non-significant more risk of misfit in none splinted technique when compared to splinted technique.