Introduction: Selection of the proper overdenture attachment system can be challenging for the prosthodontist if there is a lack of implant parallelism.
Objectives: The study aimed to radiographically assess the influence of two distinct attachment systems on marginal bone loss (MBL) around a pair of 30-degree divergent implants retaining mandibular overdentures.
Materials and Methods: The study involved 22 fully edentulous patients who underwent a prospective randomized controlled trial (RCT). In this trial, each patient received a pair of implants tilted at a 15° angle from the vertical axis, bilaterally placed in the canine regions using a minimally invasive flapless surgical technique. The participants were evenly divided into two groups: Group N (n = 11), which received mandibular overdentures with angled Novaloc attachments, and Group L (n=11), which received mandibular overdentures with Locator attachments. The evaluation of MBL was conducted at three time points: baseline (prosthetic loading), 3 months, and 12 months after prosthetic loading.
Results: By the end of 12 months, the mean values of MBL did not exceed 1.5 mm in both groups. The mean values of MBL were greater in group N than in group L with a statistically significant difference.
Conclusion: The Locator attachment may be viewed as superior to the angled Novaloc attachments when it comes to peri-implant bone loss around 15° distally inclined implants used to retain mandibular complete overdentures. Nevertheless, the bone loss with angled Novaloc attachments remains within clinically acceptable limits.