PEEK obturators effective and esthetically pleasing but have reduced retention over time compared with metal-acrylic obturators

PEEK obturators effective and esthetically pleasing but have reduced retention over time compared with metal-acrylic obturators suggests a new study published in the journal of prosthetic dentistry.
Metal and polyetheretherketone (PEEK) have been used to rehabilitate maxillary defects with obturators, each having advantages and disadvantages. However, patient satisfaction with the obturator retention of each material is unclear.
The purpose of this crossover clinical study was to compare retention and patient satisfaction between a milled cobalt chromium and a milled PEEK framework, each with a hollow bulb extension in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).
Twenty patients who had received unilateral total maxillectomy and were treated in the prosthodontic department's maxillofacial clinic were enrolled in this crossover study. Each participant wore 2 different types of obturators for 6 months after insertion. Type CoCr received a milled cobalt chromium framework with a hollow bulb extension in PMMA first, and type Pk received a milled modified PEEK (BioHPP) framework with a hollow bulb extension in PMMA first. Patient satisfaction and retention force were measured immediately, at 3 months, and at 6 months after obturator insertions. The Fischer exact, chi-squared, and Monte Carlo tests were used to compare qualitative data. One-way ANOVA with the post hoc Tukey test was used for pair-wise comparison, and repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare before and after treatment at 3 and 6 months.
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