Denture materials-tooth materials

Posted by Dental News Team On April - 15 - 2010

The basics of denture materials – tooth materials

If you are living in an industrial country, do not rack your brain about toothmaterials.

Terms like noble metal supply, zinc supply, titanium and Co are hyped to squeeze money out of your pocket-denture costs are getting higher unnecessarily.

All materials, which are used in a patient´s mouth are subject to strict controls and therefore bio compatible. For you, function and aesthetic dentistry is important.

The function should fit-the bite should be ok, as well as the thickness of crowns and bridges. Function does not depend on material, but on other factors. For example, if the dentist chooses the right tooth cut-you get good results with a groove cut, but not with a tangent cut or step cut. Furthermore if the dental impression is performed properly, if the denture was biochemically well concipated and last but not least if the dentist/technician has often worked with the materials.

If a technician mostly performs gold inlays it is more difficult for him to performm partial dentures and the other way round. A tehnician who has worked his whole life with steel is more competent to perform dentures out of steel instead of titanium.

Costs do not depend on the material but on aesthetic. It makes a difference whether the technician is performing 10 crowns/dentures a day or just one. Tooth aesthetic is an expensive art.

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Removable dentures-supported by mucous membrane

Posted by Dental News Team On April - 14 - 2010

Removable dentures, denture break, loss of abutment tooth, denture extension-these are the subjects we are talking about today-especially about dentures supported by mucous membrane!

If masticatory forces are initiated on the mucous membrane it is called dentures supported by mucous membrane. You call it partial denture if there are teeth left. If there are no teeth left you call it full denture. Often teeth are used as fixation of partial dentures. You differentiate partial dentures with and without clasps (pic. 1).

With partial dentures without clasps the clasp is substituted by different fixation elements (attachment, head abutment…)(pic.2) A part of fixation is integrated in the prosthesis; the tooth, which is used as the denture fixation, is crowned and this crown is used as the other fixation.  That is why the term clasp tooth crown is often used and means crowned fixation tooth. Sometimes it is the aim with “partial dentures with clasps” to protect the fixation tooth from clasp and abrasion and so the tooth is randomly crowned, this is called clasp tooth crown as well. The advantage of partial dentures without clasps is the better aestetics, disadvantages are higher costs and the load of the tooth by the prosthesis. The more tighter the tooth is fixed with the prosthesis, the more higher is it´s load. If  you chew, the mucous membrane is slipping, consequently the denture is moving (resilience), this movement is spread to the remaining tooth-the more tighter the fixation, the bigger the tooth dislocate. The remaining tooth can get lost after a few years!

With classical partial dentures with clasps the load is lower, but not gone. Either way a partial denture is often the entering wedge to a full denture, cause normally the remaining teeth areslipping, a denture extension has to be made.

These process is often accelerate by false constructions of partial dentures. You see a so called free end situation in pic.3, there is no tooth behind the fifth tooth left and a partial denture with clasp was made.

Position and direction of the clasp is wrong, cause the clasp is activated while chewing (pic.4)-i.e. the tooth is levered out-this should not happen. The clasp should not be activated until the denture is stick on the opposite dentition (pic 5 and 6), but it should be deactivated whilst chewing.

Whilst free end situation the clasp should be open backwards, as well as the lever should be constructed longer. The perfect construction would be, if the clasp along with the metallic end piece of the prosthesis (which rests on the chewing surface)is placed between the third and fourth tooth (longer lever and therefore less dislocation), as well as deactivation of the clasp whilst chewing and activation whilst removal the denture.

This would be the right way, although there would be less aesthetic and in addition this leads to break of dentures and/or break of clasp. That is why the clasps are designed wrong-the tooth is more strained, but this means the dentist/technician has no additional costs and the patient is happy for now-the aesthetic is also more advantageous.

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Dentures supported by implants

Posted by Dental News Team On April - 13 - 2010

Dentures supported by implants-different treatment waiting times

A fixed denture is always supported by bones, which means the masticatory force is either initiated by teeth or implants.

First implants has to be set in the bones, you call this an implantation. Nowadays minimal invasive techniques are standard, for example the swage technique.

Depending on whether the implant is treated with denture, you differentiate an..

o    immediate treatment

o– –immediate loading
o    open/muted  cure

If the implant is immediately exposed to the whole masticatory forces, you call it an immediate loading. It is possible if the quality of bones is ideal-especially in the lower jaw.

If the implant is immediately treated with denture, but is not exposed to the whole masticatory forces-the tooth is made smaller-it is called immediate treatment.

Whether the implant is loaded immediately or afterwards depends on different factors, especially on the quality of bones. Another factor is the extent of the implantation. For example, if a bone set up surgery is made in the same session, the mucous membrane is sutured tightly-a muted cure.

Sometimes the bone quality is not adequate for an immediate treatment. This would be a risk, since the tooth can be loosed before it is healed by the nutrition and/or the tongue. Either the implant is cured muted, or a so called gingiva shaper is fixed. The gingiva shaper saves the clearance surgery after the cure is done. You call this an open cure.

It is called muted cure if the implants are cured below the mucous membrane, so that the bone set up material cannot be infected-a bone loss would be the result. Through the mucous membrane occlusion the area of operations is protected from bacteria in the oral. The disadvantage of immediate treatment, immediate loading and open cure is the co called clearance surgery-the mucous membrane has to be open again after implant cure.

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Costs of a denture

Posted by Dental News Team On April - 12 - 2010

Costs of a denture

A lot of people wonder how much a denture costs, but that is not an easy question.

Denture costs consist of those factors: (sequentially downward):

  1. the way of provision itself (bone/mucous membrane supported; fixed/removable;…)
  2. provision effort (one dentist performs several dental impressions intermediate steps, another dentist performs less…)
  3. who did the provision and where was it done. (the professor in a noble district charges more than a country dentist – by same quality)
  4. the used tooth materials

Please see tips further below!

Here you see a tough cost overview-starting with the most expensive:
fixed dentures
partial removable dentures
removable bone supported
removable mucous membrane supported-implant protected
removable mucous membrane supported with clasp tooth crowns  /attachments/bridge solutions
removable mucous membrane supported with clasps and clasp tooth crowns
removable mucous membrane supported with clasps without
clasp tooth crowns
full denture

Particular points in detail:

Ad 1
Think about an adequate solution for you. If you are over 70 it does not have to be a fixed version, with a denture supported by bones you are also able to bite well, without spending lots of money. According to the tooth left, a removable denture supported by mucous membrane with clasps and clasp tooth crowns instead of a denture removable supported by mucous membrane with clasps/attachments/bridge solutions is sufficient
If you are a heavy smoker, a dental bridge is preferable to an implant
A good dentist talks to you about costs and does not automatically suggest the most expensive solution .

Ad 2
A lot of effort does not always necessarily mean quality. Try to find a well balance whilst you are watching the dentist´s steps so you can have a good feeling about this. If there are too many mistakes made get a second opinion.

Ad 3
Compare several offers, a dentist should explain the differences to you-does the explanations make sense to you? If you have the feeling your dentist contradict himself, please listen to your gut instinct-it never fools you!

Ad4
It does not have to be noble metals- Well agreeable organic alloys are as good as gold, but cheaper (furthermore a gold ceramic crown is a gold alloy and no pure gold) Everything is organic agreeable throughout the market and industrial countries-all materials pass through a strict testing procedure!

More on this on checkdent.com-the dental dictionary!

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What does “dentures-supported by bones or mucous membrane” mean?

Depending on whether the masticatory force is initiated by bones (just like with your own teeth) or by mucous membrane. You differentiate from denture “supported by bones or mucous membrane”


It is called dentures- supported by bones, if  the masticatory force is located in the bones and the denture is hardly seated on the mucous membrane.

If  the masticatory force is primarily located in the mucous membrane and help remained teeth and/or implants (so called fixation elements) it is called dentures-supported by mucous membrane.

Often no fixation elements are used-  total denture. If fixation elements are used you call it a hybrid prosthesis. Better fixation can be improved through two implants. (pic. 1)You don´t need synthetic gums, but the masticatory force is not supported by these implants-so you see a mucous membrane supported denture placed on implants in this picture.

A denture-supported by bones is trend setting in industrial countries. The reasons are:

  • better comfort for the patient
  • prevention of damages on fixation teeth (partial dentures-a classical example of a mucous membrane supported denture-is fixed on remained teeth)
  • prevention of bone loss from the alveolar bone (Use it-or lose it)

Often a bone is not loaded naturally through a denture supported by mucous membrane (non physiological). The result is not only a bad fitting prosthesis, but also face changes (big lower jaw, small upper jaw). You can recognize bone loss because of recurrent pressure sores and/or a prosthesis, which is not fitting well anymore. The result is a denture lining-which compensate a bone loss.

Even if there are less bones left, a bone set up surgery can be made to use implants. Partial dentures and total dentures are implanted provisionally till the implants are healed.

Advantages of partial,- and total dentures opposite to implants are lower costs.


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