Clinical
FP1 vs FP3: which full-arch prosthesis fits the case?
The short answer: an FP1 replaces only the crowns of the missing teeth and meets the patient’s own gum, while an FP3 replaces the crowns and the lost tissue using pink ceramic or acrylic. The choice follows from how much bone and soft tissue the patient still has.
The difference in one table
| FP1 | FP3 | |
|---|---|---|
| What it replaces | The crown portion only | Crowns plus lost soft and hard tissue |
| Pink material | None — teeth emerge from real gum | Pink ceramic or acrylic restores the missing volume |
| Bone reduction | Minimal to none; the ridge form is preserved | Usually deliberate, to make room and hide the junction |
| Tissue requirement | Adequate bone and gum must still be present | Works where volume has already been lost |
| Where success is decided | At the gum margin and the papillae | At the prosthetic junction and lip line |
| Planning reference | The patient’s pre-extraction tissue architecture | The planned prosthetic contour |
What FP1 is asking for
In an FP1 the restored teeth emerge from the patient’s own gingiva, exactly as natural teeth do. There is no pink material to disguise a transition, which is precisely what makes the result convincing — and precisely what makes it demanding. Every millimetre of the junction between prosthesis and tissue is visible, so the tissue has to be where the design expects it to be.
That puts the whole burden on preserving what the patient arrived with. The interdental papillae carry most of it: they are what stops the restoration reading as a row of separate posts, and they are the first thing lost when adjacent teeth come out together.
What FP3 solves instead
When vertical tissue has already gone, an FP1 would have to lengthen the teeth to reach the remaining gum, and the result looks wrong long before it looks natural. FP3 accepts that and restores the missing volume prosthetically. Bone is often reduced deliberately, both to create room for the material and to place the prosthesis–tissue junction where the lip will hide it.
The trade is honest: FP3 is more forgiving of tissue loss and more dependent on hiding a junction; FP1 has no junction to hide and no tolerance for tissue that is not there.
Choosing between them
- Tissue volume. Enough bone and gum to support natural emergence points to FP1; established vertical loss points to FP3.
- Tooth length. If restoring to the existing gum would produce unnaturally long teeth, FP1 is being asked to do the wrong job.
- Lip line. A high smile line exposes an FP3 junction and raises the bar for hiding it; it also raises the reward for an FP1 that has none.
- Timing. FP1 is most achievable when planning happens before extraction, while the tissue is still intact.
The timing point is the one that is easy to lose. Papillae collapse within minutes of extraction, and interproximal tissue that loses its support flattens toward the dimension of unsupported tissue. An FP1 planned from an impression taken at surgery is being planned against tissue that has already changed.
Why FP1 planning needs a pre-extraction model
Because an FP1 meets real gum, the design depends on the shape of that gum — and that shape has a short life. The workflow answer is to capture the architecture while the teeth are still in place and carry it forward: a model of the gum surface with the crowns removed and the root anatomy left in place beneath it.
That model is called a VeX, or Virtual Extraction model. It is what surgical guides are seated against, what the emergence profile is designed from, and what the lab trusts when the impression from surgery shows tissue that has already moved.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between FP1 and FP3?
An FP1 prosthesis replaces only the crown portion of the missing teeth and meets the patient's own gum, so no artificial pink material is used. An FP3 replaces the crowns and the lost soft and hard tissue, using pink ceramic or acrylic to restore the missing volume.
Is FP1 better than FP3?
Neither is better in the abstract. FP1 gives the most natural result when the patient has enough bone and gum to support it, because the teeth emerge from real tissue. FP3 is the correct choice when tissue volume has already been lost and has to be replaced prosthetically.
When is FP1 not possible?
When vertical tissue loss means the restored teeth would have to be unnaturally long, when bone and soft-tissue volume cannot support a natural emergence, or when the lip line exposes a junction that cannot be hidden. Those cases are usually restored as FP3.
Does FP1 require bone reduction?
Far less than FP3, and often none. FP3 typically involves deliberate bone reduction to create room for the pink prosthetic material and to place the junction out of sight. FP1 aims to preserve the ridge form instead.
Why does FP1 planning need a pre-extraction model?
Because an FP1 meets the patient's own gum, the design depends on the shape of that gum — especially the papillae, which start collapsing within minutes of extraction. A VeX model captures that architecture before it is lost.
Plan FP1 against the tissue the patient still has.
Turn a jaw scan and a teeth scan into a VeX model — the pre-extraction reference an FP1 case is designed against.
Create a VeX model ↗