Atlantis Abutment Option

Atlantis Abutment Top and Side View

Only The Best!
by Jerry Ragle, CDT

When I see that Ragle Lab can improve our services to you, our customers, whether that be through a procedure or product I am going to offer that as a standard method of operation. We can always do something else if requested but I am a believer that something has to be at the top, or core, for all else to be measured from. Over the years I have watched implant abutments improve. First it was a simple post but they came out or broke. Then whether the hex is inside or out, tines or friction, separate screw, double thread or single. They all worked for their time. Now we enter into the age of esthetic abutments. Some make universal esthetic abutments but then there are custom.

Anything custom has to be better than stock. This is true most of the time and is very true when it comes to implant abutments. I am so tired of placing beautiful crowns on sticks. I can’t express it more clearly without placing a .mp3 file into this web page but, you really would not want to have what I have to say on your iPod.

Years have gone by where, with no better choices then to work with, I have had to hear a waxer say “I hate making custom abutments because they don’t cast”, or the finisher complaining they take to long to finish and then having the doctor call and say “What’s that stove pipe looking crown you gave me?” or “Don’t blanch my tissue…..”. On second thought maybe I will make that .wav file so I may release all my years of implant frustration.

Looking back and knowing what is available today I cringe to think of all the restorations we have made on all the little round posts. Since when is a tooth round? Where did these implant engineers go to school? Yet we followed right along and made it work.

For some time we, at Ragle Lab, have been using a company called Atlantis Components Inc. to fabricate some of our “custom” abutments. I am so impressed today by what can be produced on computer and milled that I no longer want to ever see another round, skinny, expensive, can’t return, can’t use, non-retentive, inventoried, crown spinning stock post. Whew! Of course if you want to use one of these little varmints we will be happy to accommodate your needs but we might not be happy about it and we will just have to agree to disagree and move a long. But, for those who want an abutment that looks, acts and feels like a tooth, well forget the feel part, Atlantis is for you. Just think a molar crown on a molar prep. Not a molar crown on a stick!

All joking aside, this abutment is currently our “standard” method of use. Occasionally we may use something stock because we have to, but it won’t be very often. So, this brings us to the big change that affects you, “time”. Custom takes time and since we don’t fabricate them on-site we must ship them off. This involves a variance in shipping costs depending on how fast you or your patient wants it. We have provided a downloadable PDF file which lists the different shipping costs and scheduling days. Please print this off and send it to us. You can rest easier knowing that your patients can once again floss around something that emerges from the gum more resembling a tooth.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call or email me at jragle@raglelab.com. Thank you, I feel much better now and here is that .mp3 file for your listening pleasure.