Technique tips – management of a precision attachment crown fractured at gingival level

Extra-coronal precision attachments can help retain removable partial dentures and can avoid the need for visible clasps.1 There are a number of different attachments in use and, in this particular case, a Mini-SG®F2 was used to help retain a removable partial denture (Figure 1). The male attachment was incorporated into a porcelain fused-to-metal crown, and the female portion into the partial denture (Figure 2). Both functioned well for nine years but then the crown fractured off at the gingival margin. Some caries was noted in the remaining root. The options available in this situation are limited as there was no supragingival tooth onto which the crown could be cemented. If the tooth was to be retained, then a root-filling would be necessary, followed by a post-retained core. The crown would then have to be re-cemented in exactly the same position, otherwise the precision attachment would not align with the RPD. The patient was keen not to lose the attachment as it has functioned so well.