A custom auricular implant healing abutment: A dental technique

Abstract

Skin overgrowth is a complication that hinders bone-anchored prosthetic ear rehabilitation. In order to accurately transfer the healing skin for prosthetic reconstruction, this article introduces a custom-made autopolymerizing acrylic resin auricular cap (button) through indirect pick up of the metal housing. The caps are secured during the healing stage to shape the skin, preventing surgical edema, swelling, and skin overgrowth in patients suffering from keloid reactions from covering the implant abutments. Since skin height and form are changeable, the caps can be relined directly or indirectly if greater skin compression is required. Moreover, these custom-made caps can be utilized during prosthetic silicone ear fabrication to retain the metal housing.