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Ettinger RL. Spec Care Dentist 2012; 32: 39–41

Dental implants have been shown to improve the quality of life. Yet an elderly person, often with enfeebled hands and sometimes dementia, may not be able to carry out optimum home oral healthcare. An approach would be to alter the implant-borne fixed prosthesis converting it to a removable prosthesis/overdenture and to cover the implant abutments with healing caps. This would allow effective oral and denture hygiene with such possibly being carried out by a carer. It is also sometimes all but impossible to identify components of a failing implant system used by the original treating dentist. It would be of considerable merit to issue to every patient who has received an implant with an 'implant passport' detailing the manufacturer and superstructure of that implant reconstruction.