The loose anterior fixed partial denture requires assessment. What is the FIRST step?

Correct answer: D. Make alginate impressions and mount diagnostic casts

• A. Sectioning is destructive and premature. A bridge loose as a UNIT may have failed at only one abutment; you must first determine which, and whether the abutments are restorable, before committing to removal.
• B. Implants may well feature in the final plan, but a referral made before diagnostic records exist skips the entire treatment-planning step.
• C. Re-cementing without investigation is the classic error. Loosening usually signals recurrent caries, a fractured abutment, or an occlusal overload — cement over the problem and you seal caries under the retainer.
• D. CORRECT. Before anything irreversible, you need DIAGNOSTIC CASTS. Alginate impressions poured and mounted let you assess abutment condition, occlusal scheme, available restorative space, arch form and the shape of the ridge, and they give you a record of the existing prosthesis that cannot be recovered once it is destroyed. They also serve as the basis for a diagnostic wax-up and for provisional fabrication. Diagnosis precedes treatment.

Note: A bridge loose as a whole unit points to failure of the weaker retainer, or to both. A bridge loose on ONE abutment while the other stays cemented is the more dangerous scenario, because caries progresses silently under the loose retainer.