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What is ArchBridge for Overdenture and how does it work?

ArchBridge for Overdenture is a digital scanning method built specifically for LOCATOR-retained restorative cases. It replaces the conventional attachment impression or chairside pickup with a digital capture of attachment position and orientation.

The system has two capture components:

  • ArchBridge Scan Bodies, reusable titanium components used intraorally to capture Zest LOCATOR and LOCATOR FIXED abutment position and orientation.
  • ArchBridge Overdenture ScanAnalogs, used for extraoral workflows involving an existing prosthesis or a stone model.

Scan data is processed through the corresponding ArchBridge digital library, which allows ROE to design and fabricate the definitive prosthesis, including lab-cured attachment housings. The clinician captures attachment position digitally instead of relying on a conventional impression of the attachment sites.

Why attachment-level cases needed a dedicated solution

Attachment-level overdenture cases have resisted the digital workflow that implant-level cases now take for granted. LOCATOR and LOCATOR FIXED abutments are low-profile, reflective, and geometrically similar to one another. They sit at tissue level with mucosa crowding the margins and offer almost no unique form for a scanner to lock onto.

Implant-level scan bodies do not solve this. Built for a different interface, they often cannot seat, or they seat only by interfering with a neighboring component. As a result, attachment position has traditionally been transferred by chairside pickup or conventional impression, which is the most error-sensitive step in the case, performed in the mouth, with little chance to verify it before the patient leaves.

ROE began this project after repeatedly receiving overdenture cases where attachment position could not be resolved with confidence from the data submitted. Rather than adapt an existing scan body, ROE designed the geometry around the attachment itself. That is why ArchBridge for Overdenture uses six distinct patent-pending forms rather than one.

Defining features

Feature What it means clinically
No chairside pickup Attachment position transfers as data, so ROE places the LOCATOR housings under controlled laboratory conditions. No intraoral acrylic, no block-out, and no rework if a housing binds or a spacer shifts during cure.
Six unique designs Apollo, Bixby, Chaumont, Dragon, Hellgate, and Rialto span the arch in a way that avoids scanner confusion and works around limited space, ridge form, and adjacent anatomy.
Textured titanium surface Reusable titanium with a defined sandblasted scanning surface reduces reflection off the titanium and supports reliable optical capture. Each Scan Body is cleaned and steam sterilized between patients rather than discarded.
Direct 1:1 interface Interfaces directly to the Zest LOCATOR and LOCATOR FIXED platforms through the Zest Processing Spacer, which seats and stabilizes the Scan Body on the abutment itself. The Spacer is the only single-use component in the intraoral sequence.

What this means for your practice

  • Confirm accuracy chairside. Full seating and stability are verified on the abutment, and capture of the defined circular scanning feature is inspected on screen during and after the scan. Errors surface at the appointment rather than at delivery.
  • Overcome space constraints. Where space is tight, angulation is unfavorable, or adjacent structures interfere, you can change to a different ArchBridge model or reorient the component along the ridge instead of toward the center of the arch, without abandoning the digital workflow.
  • Economical and reusable. Everything needed to get started is included in the kit for $699. The system pays for itself on the first case through chairtime savings.
  • Laboratory-controlled pickup. Housing placement moves out of the operatory and into the lab.

 

Additional Resources

For more information concerning ArchBridge for Overdenture:

  • ArchBridge for Overdenture product page
  • ArchBridge for Overdenture resource page
  • Video: Title here

Contact Information

For help with your next case, contact ROE Dental Laboratory: