If you visit the Zest Dental Solutions website, you’ll see some staggering facts. Such as, in 2011, baby boomers were turning 65 at a rate of 1 every 10 seconds, translating into 3-4 million of them a year. About 26% of people over 65 will lose all their teeth over time. Only a little over 42,000 mini implant overdentures were placed in 2010, and it is estimated that more than 100,000 will be placed in 2017, which is a growth rate of 159%.
Coincidentally, Zest Dental Solutions designed an implant specifically for implant-retained overdenture wearers called the LOCATOR® Overdenture Implant (LODI) System to meet clinician demand for a less invasive, more predictable, and less expensive way to secure overdentures for this booming population of seniors. The LODI System incorporates a self-tapping narrow diameter implant, ideal for many ridge widths, and a detachable LOCATOR Abutment. The implant thread widens a little in the coronal area so the implants can be immediately loaded, if indicated. The LOCATOR Male self-aligns, and pivots inside the denture cap providing a genuinely resilient connection that holds up to patient mastication forces while providing attachment durability. The attachment has a lower vertical height for improved patient comfort when the overdenture is taken out. Zest indicates that this also gives the overdenture more strength compared to O-ball attachments.
The LODI system was recently evaluated by eight Dental Product Shopper product reviewers and received a rating of 4.4, which included categories such as overall satisfaction, surgical instrumentation, flexibility, and patient satisfaction. “Ease of use” was rated as excellent or very good by 88% percent of the evaluators. One evaluator liked the ease of use of the attachment the best. Another noted the cost, patient acceptance, and it being extremely useful for partials as well. Other reviewers liked the ability to change the abutment height, and were impressed with the low profile of the LOCATOR Abutment and denture housing. Additional features considered beneficial were initial stability, versatility of retention, and versatility of revision of parts. To see the comments and rating details, click here.
Easy to insert, flexible, resilient, and durable, the LOCATOR Overdenture Implant System enables your patients to smile, eat, and laugh for the long term.