Arwa Sedky Abd El Lateef, Maha Wagdy ElKerdawy And Khaled Aziz Mohamed Abd El Wahab.,

ABSTRACT
Aim Of This Study: This Study Was Done To Investigate The Influence Of Ball And Locator Attachment Systems Retaining An Obturator Restoring Unilateral Total Maxillectomy On The Retentive Forces During Obturator Dislodgement. Materials And Methods:This Study Was Carried Out On An Acrylic Resin Model Constructed From Duplication Of A Study Model Of Unilateral Total Maxillectomy. Three Dummy Implants 3.7 In Diameter And 11 Mm In Length Were Installed At The Sites Of First Central Incisor, First Premolar And Second Molar Of The Non-defect Side. The Test Obturator Was Processed. The Experiment Was Divided Into 2 Phases: First With Ball And Socket Attachment Followed By Locator Attachment. Universal Testing Machine Was Used To Measure The Retentive Forces Of The Studied Attachments. Once Retention Measurments Were Completed For The Ball Attachments, They Were Replaced By Locator Attachment. The Collected Data Were Tabulated And Statistically Analyzed.

Results:The Results Showed That; Locator Attachments Had Statistically Significant Higher Mean Retention Values Than Ball And Socket Attachment.