Choosing the right retention insert is crucial for ensuring patient satisfaction and the longevity of their dental prosthesis. The process of selecting the appropriate retention insert for your patient's removable LOCATOR overdenture can be overwhelming, but this blog is here to help you make informed decisions to enhance patient comfort and optimize prosthesis stability.
Continuing the Process
What’s Next After Selecting the Abutment?
Once you’ve selected and delivered the LOCATOR abutments for your patient, you’re ready to impress or scan and have an overdenture fabricated.
On delivery day, you’ll either do a chairside pick up of the silver metal denture cap assembly (a.k.a. housing) or your lab will have them already processed into the overdenture for you.
Either way, the denture cap assembly (pictured to the right) will have a black processing insert inside for initial try in.


You’ll keep the black processing inserts in place to try the overdenture in the patient’s mouth and ensure a good fit.
Once you’ve established a good fit and made any adjustments necessary, it’s time to choose which retention insert the patient will like best. The black processing inserts are not designed to have retention and will wear out more quickly than the colored nylon inserts.
The retention inserts (we’ve heard them called many things such as O-rings, snaps, buttons, liners, etc.) for removable overdentures are made of nylon and come in two types; standard range and extended range. Both standard and extended range inserts are precisely designed to fit exactly over Zest gold legacy LOCATOR abutments.
When to use Standard Range Retention Inserts


Standard range inserts have a “button” shape in the center, as you can see in the image above.
This shape allows the inserts to align with and snap over LOCATORS that are on implants with 10 degrees or less of divergence (up to 20 degrees total between two implants).
Standard range retention inserts come in three colors, with each color corresponding to a different retention strength. Here’s a quick guide to Standard Range Retention Inserts:


Generally speaking, if a patient has only two implants retaining an overdenture, they’ll usually prefer the highest retention. Patients with four or more implants typically prefer the blue inserts. However, each patient and each case is different, so it’s a good idea to have every color on hand to make sure your patient feels like their denture snaps on snugly, but without being so tight that it’s too difficult to remove.
Have your patient take their overdenture in and out and ask them if the snaps feel too tight or too loose and you can change them from there.
When to Use Extended Range Retention Inserts


Extended range inserts are designed to snap snugly over a gold legacy LOCATOR abutment that’s on an implant with 20 degrees or less of divergence (up to 40 degrees total between two implants).
Notice the absence of the “button” shape in the center of these inserts. This allows the insert to snap over a Locator that isn’t quite parallel to its neighboring LOCATOR. Extended range inserts can also come in handy in cases where the blue standard range inserts are still too tight for your patient and they need something with even lighter retention. When in doubt, refer back to the following guide:


How to Change a Retention Insert
Changing retention inserts is simple with your LOCATOR core tool or LOCATOR Enhanced Core Tool.
Click here for details and a video on how to use your core tool to replace retention inserts!
Also, be sure to stay tuned for the next blog in this series on how to choose the right LOCATOR FIXED® retention inserts!
Need more help? Let Us Know!
Choosing the correct retention insert can make a huge impact for your patient. That’s why Zest Dental Solutions is committed to supporting dental professionals with top-tier products and expert guidance.
If you have any questions or need further assistance, don't hesitate to reach out to a clinical representative for chairside support or ask us in our Live Chat here on the Zest Dental Solutions website. We’re always here to help! Together, we can ensure the best outcomes for your patients. If you have any questions about our other products or services, feel free to contact us anytime.