When it comes to the restoration of implants, we typically have two treatment options: Screw-retained or Cement-retained. Although both treatment options can be used predictably, they each have their own advantages and disadvantages:

screw retained implant

Screw-retained

Advantages:

  • Known retention
  • Low profile retention
  • Easy to remove / re-tighten if it were to become loose
  • Ease of retrievability in full arch cases
  • No risk of leaving residual cement
  • Ensures passivity of framework

Disadvantages:

  • Dependent on implant orientation / angulation
  • May be unesthetic

Cement-retained

Advantages:

  • Independent on implant orientation / angulation
  • Enhanced esthetics
    • Disadvantages:

      • Unknown retention
      • Can be difficult to remove

      Literature reports suggest many clinicians transitioned to restore an increasing number of implants as screw-retained. Why this transition? Mainly because there is a lot of good research showing the problems like peri- implantitis associated with leaving residual cement in a cement retained implant crown which may lead to implant failure