The Difference between Custom and Stock Abutment

Custom Abutment:

A dental lab creates custom abutments, which are designed to mimic the emergence and shape of a natural tooth. To ensure an exact fit on the implant, the restorative dentist captures its position and the surrounding gum tissue's shape by taking an impression. Once the lab fabricates the custom abutment, it provides adequate support to the gum tissue, similar to a natural tooth.

Stock Abutment:

A stock abutment is a prefabricated connector that is mass-produced by the implant manufacturer and is available in a wide range of standard sizes and configurations. The designs aim to offer user-friendliness and facilitate easy impressions, making them the most cost-effective option, typically employed for reinforcement retained restorations. They come in both straight and angled forms, but are most suitable for tissue-level implants that aren't in the aesthetic zone. Stock abutments are generally less expensive and quicker to install than custom abutments, but despite their good fit into the implant, they often lack proper shape and form. As a result, the abutments are typically over-contoured or under-contoured, failing to shape the gum tissue properly and resulting in a highly unnatural appearance of the crown. Patients frequently report poor aesthetics, dark margins, and difficulty cleaning them.