Why Implant Locator Dentures Fail: Chairside Pick-up vs Lab Explained

At Bremadent Dental Laboratory, we work closely with dentists and dental teams across the UK to deliver predictable, high-quality implant-retained dentures. One issue that continues to come up in practice is locator pick-ups that don’t quite perform as expected.

They may feel tight, slightly off, lack retention, or cause ongoing adjustments. In some cases, they fail prematurely. When this happens, it is rarely down to the locator system itself. More often, it comes down to how the pick-up has been carried out.

The key difference lies in whether the procedure is done chairside or in the laboratory.

From both a clinical and technical perspective, chairside locator pick-ups are more accurate, more predictable, and ultimately deliver better outcomes for patients.

Let’s break down why.

The Core Advantage: Direct Intraoral Accuracy
The biggest advantage of chairside pick-ups is simple. You are working directly in the patient’s mouth.

This means:
• The locator housings are picked up in the exact implant position
• The denture is seated under real functional conditions
• The occlusion is captured at the same time
• There is no transfer of information between clinic and lab

There is no guesswork. No interpretation. No reliance on external models or scans being perfectly accurate.

You are capturing the true relationship between the implants, denture, and occlusion in real time.

This alone removes a significant margin of error.

Why Lab-Based Pick-Ups Introduce Risk
Lab-based locator pick-ups rely on a chain of processes, each with its own tolerance for inaccuracy.

These include:
• Impressions or intraoral scans
• Model pouring or 3D printing
• Material expansion and contraction
• Transfer of implant positions to analogue models

Even when everything is done well, small dimensional changes can occur.

Individually, these changes may seem insignificant. But when combined, they can lead to:
• Locators not seating passively
• Increased stress on implants and components
• Tight or uneven retention
• Premature wear of attachments
• Ongoing chairside adjustments

In implant dentistry, precision is everything. Small errors can have big consequences.

Chairside procedures remove these variables entirely.

Material Science Matters More Than You Think
All dental materials are subject to dimensional change.

This includes:
• Impression materials
• Dental stone
• Acrylic resins
• 3D printed models

Even the most advanced systems have tolerances. Expansion and contraction are unavoidable to some degree.
When working with implant-retained dentures, these small discrepancies can affect:
• Passive fit
• Long-term retention
• Patient comfort
• Component longevity

By carrying out the pick-up chairside, you eliminate these variables and work directly with the true intraoral position.

Real Clinical Workflow: Chairside Implant Locator Pick-Up with Reline
To give practical insight, here is how we approach a chairside implant locator pick-up combined with a reline when attending a practice.

This is based on real clinical workflows used daily.

First Appointment:

1. Remove existing locator housings
   
2. Ensure the denture is fully passive and not binding on implant sites
   
3. Add adhesive to the fit surface, take a light body wash inside the denture, perform border moulding where required, ask the patient to bite together to establish correct occlusion
   
4. Cast up the impression in dental stone
5. Add new self-cure acrylic for a new fitting surface
6. Trim and polish the denture
   
7. Re-check fit, stability, and occlusion
   

Only once the denture is stable and passive do we proceed to the locator pick-up.

Preparation Is Key to Long-Term Success
Before picking up the locators, correct preparation of the denture is essential.
This includes:
• Opening up the recess areas for the locator housings
• Roughening the acrylic around the recesses
• Creating small holes in each side of opened areas undercuts for mechanical retention
This ensures the pickup material achieves both a chemical bond and a mechanical lock.
Without this, there is a higher risk of the housings loosening over time.

Second appointment:
Always check the newly relined denture first to make sure it's correct. Next comes careful placement of the locator components.

Our preferred method includes:

1. Placing a rubber dam over the abutments
   
2. Adding a spacer or washer
3. Seating the locator housing with a black insert over the top (Black inserts inside the housing are for processing purposes)

This prevents acrylic from locking onto the abutment and ensures proper spacing.

Everything must remain passive before the pickup material is introduced. Make sure the locator housings have at least a 2-3mm free space between the housing and the denture with no interference. 

The Pick-Up Process
For the pickup itself, we use Qu-Resin by Bredent.
It offers:

• Strong bonding properties
• Controlled handling
• Compatibility with standard PVS delivery systems already in the clinic

The process is straightforward:
• Inject the material into the prepared recesses
• Seat the denture fully
• Ask the patient to bite together
• Allow the material to set intraorally for 3 minutes 

This ensures the locators are picked up in the correct position, under real functional load, and with accurate occlusion.

This level of precision cannot be replicated on a model.

Finishing and Reinforcement
Once set:

• The denture is removed
  
• The pickup areas are trimmed and neatened up, acrylic added over the top if needed.
• Any voids are filled with acrylic in the fitting surface of the locator pickup 
• The denture is trimmed and polished include on a slow speed around the pick up area in the fitting surface, making sure not to damage the housing
• With a scapel, remove any flash or excess acrylic going into the black insert
• Remove the black insert and now choose the desired insert of choice based on the retention parameters, bear in mind the patient has to remove and insert this. If the insert is too tight, a patient may struggle to remove.
  
• Place the denture in-situ and listen for a click, pre-warn the patient beforehand there might be a click
  
• Ask the patient to remove and insert the denture to see if the retention is good.
  
• Final checks include fit, retention, occlusion, and patient comfort before the patients leaves. 
  

All completed in a single clinical session.

Time Considerations: Chairside vs Lab Workflow
Time is another important factor.

Lab-based locator pick-ups typically take around 2 - 3 hours. This is due to:
• Plaster setting times
• Acrylic curing times
• Technician hands-on work

Because of this, lab workflows are often split into two appointments:

1. First appointment for removal and impression
   
2. Second appointment for fitting and pickup

Chairside procedures streamline this.
By working directly in the mouth with fast-setting materials, both the reline and locator pick-up can often be completed in one extended visit.

This reduces:
• Patient inconvenience
• Appointment time across multiple visits
• Delays between stages

It also allows immediate adjustments if required.

Why Chairside Delivers Better Outcomes
When comparing both approaches, chairside offers clear advantages:
• Eliminates distortion from models and materials
• Ensures true passive fit
• Captures real occlusion
• Reduces adjustments and remakes
• Improves immediate patient comfort

It also allows real-time problem solving.

If something is not right, it can be corrected immediately rather than going back and forth between clinic and lab.

Where the Lab Still Adds Value
Laboratories still play a critical role in:
• Denture design and fabrication
• Implant planning
• Digital workflows

However, for locator pick-ups specifically, the final stage is best controlled chairside where maximum accuracy can be achieved.

Key Takeaways for Dentists and Clinical Teams
If you want consistent, predictable results with locator-retained dentures:
• Prioritise chairside pick-up procedures
• Ensure the denture is passive before pickup
• Always control occlusion during the process
• Prepare acrylic properly for mechanical and chemical retention
• Use reliable materials with proven clinical performance

Attention to detail at each stage is what separates a good result from a great one.

Final Thoughts
Locator systems themselves are highly reliable. Most issues arise not from the components, but from how they are handled during the pick-up process.

Chairside pick-ups remove unnecessary variables and allow you to work directly with the patient’s anatomy in real time.
At Bremadent Dental Laboratory, we regularly support practices across the UK with chairside implant procedures, bringing the equipment, materials, and technical expertise needed to deliver these treatments efficiently.
Because ultimately, the goal is simple. Provide patients with stable, comfortable, and long-lasting implant-retained dentures.

And the best way to achieve that is to get it right, first time, in the chair. If you have a case that needs a new locator pick, please contact us today to book an appointment for us to come and preform a chair side locator pick up with you.

📞: 0208 520 8528 
 📧: [email protected] 
📍: 25A St James Street, London, E17 7PJ