Purpose: The purpose of this article was to review the current literature on the topic of tooth-implant supported fixed partial dentures (FPD) to determine risks and benefits for treatment planning considerations and weighing potential complications.
Materials and methods: A PubMed search (April-August 2013) was performed using the keywords "tooth-implant fixed partial denture" and "tooth-implant bridge" in addition to manual searches of bibliographies of full text articles and related reviews from the electronic search.
Results: A total of 21 relevant articles were selected for inclusion in the topic of tooth-implant supported FPD. Although risks such as intrusion of the natural tooth existed when using tooth-implant FPD, however, current evidence supports its clinical usage. Nonetheless, to prevent potential complications, careful planning and prosthetic design are essential.
Conclusion: Tooth-implant supported FPDs can have the similar success like conventional FPDs or implant-implant supported FPDs. However, careful planning and prosthetic reconstruction are required to ensure long-term success. Additional research is needed to gain a greater understanding of the biological and biomechanical factors affecting tooth-implant FPDs.