Standard prosthodontic procedures require five visits to construct a set of complete maxillary and mandibular dentures. Various attempts have been made to reduce these procedures to four or three appointments. However, most of these techniques require the use of visible light polymerized resin as the final denture base materials. Visible light-cured resin materials have inferior physical properties and biocompatibility problems as compared with heat cured polymethylmethacrylate. This paper describes a system of complete denture construction which requires three clinical appointments instead of the usual five visits. This system is made possible by using the VLC base/tray material as the preliminary impression material as well as the application of a new biometric wax occlusion rim. It retains the use of polymethylmethacrylate as the denture base material. This system also utilizes all the procedures used in the conventional five appointment system of complete denture construction.
This procedure is easy to use and is cost-effective because it uses equipment that exist in any office or institution. The material used, transparency film for use with plain paper copier, is less expensive than either photographic slide film or normal slide films. Moreover, the transparency sheet can be used again for photocopying until the sheet is fully used up. There is no added cost of development of film, or is it necessary to wait for the whole roll of film to be used before the label can be retrieved and used. The background of the label is clear and only the black images of the characters of the label can be clearly seen. The effect of the transparency film, photocopy ink, and adhesive glue is not known. But no adverse effects have been noted. Microlabels have advantages over conventional labels with characters in font size 8 to 12, because more information, such as the full name of the patient, sex, country of origin, and national identification number can be incorporated. With more detailed information, quick identification of a deceased person can be made. Microlabels with a clear background will have minimal esthetic impact on the patient. The disadvantages of the technique is that it may not withstand a fire. In situations where the deceased body is badly burned, the denture and its identification strip may be burned, too. However, this risk can be minimized by placing the strip in the most posterior part of the denture-palatal in the maxillary denture and distal lingual in the mandibular denture. For testing of durability, dentures with the labels were placed in water for up to 4 months. The labels showed no sign of fading or deterioration.
This article presents an alternative to the conventional swing-lock de sign of removable partial denture construction. It incorporates the principles of sectional dentures as well as the swing-lock concept and overcomes some of the limitations of conventional swing-lock dentures. I-bar struts and stainless steel keepers form part of the first section of the denture. The second part of the denture consists of the denture base with the artificial teeth and magnetic retention units. This system has been used successfully in a number of patients whose situations were suitable for the conventional swing-lock design.
This article describes a technique of constructing a set of maxillary and mandibular complete dentures in three visits instead of the usual five clinical appointments. This system of complete-denture construction is made possible because of the combined use of visible light-cured material as an impression tray and record base material, as well as the use of new biometric wax occlusion rims. Unlike some earlier techniques that use light-cured resin composites as the denture base materials, this method retains the use of heat-cured polymethylmethacrylate as the denture base material.
With the prognosis of dental implant replacement of missing teeth becoming better each year, practitioners are focusing their attention on the aesthetic aspects of implantology. However, improvement in aesthetics is only possible with the improvement in implant technology, surgical techniques and prosthodontic procedures. This study aimed at evaluating the effects of various physical and chemical agents on the implant surface; with the view of obtaining increased surface area and biocompatibility. The study found that the treatment of air-aluminum oxide blasted implants using a mixture of 30% HNO3-5% HF acids produced a surface which meets the consideration of aesthetics for implants placed in the anterior maxillary region.
Fifty patients with temporomandibular pain dysfunction syndrome were examined. Seventy-eight percent and 32 percent were female and male respectively. The white collar workers were more frequently affected. Emotional stress, dental malocclusion and a history of trauma were the main causes. Treatment consists of reassurance, relaxed jaw movements and exercises, anxiolytic drugs, thermotherapy, biting appliance, occlusal adjustments and restoration oflost dental units.
Fifty patients with temporomandibular pain dysfunction syndrome were examined. Seventy-eight percent and 32 percent were female and male respectively. The white collar workers were more frequently affected. Emotional stress, dental malocclusion and a history of trauma were the main causes. Treatment consists of reassurance, relaxed jaw movements and exercises, anxiolytic drugs, thermotherapy, biting appliance, occlusal adjustments and restoration of lost dental units.
Denture marking is accepted as a means of identifying dentures and persons in geriatric institutions, or post-mortem during war, crimes, civil unrest, natural and mass disasters. Labelling on the acrylic resin component of the denture can easily be damaged or destroyed by fire but on cobalt-chromium components it would be more resistant. A copper vapour laser (CVL) can be used to label the cobalt-chromium components of dentures and metal restorations easily, and legibly, and miniaturised for the incorporation of more personal particulars necessary for the identification of the deceased person. The CVL beam is focussed by its optics and delivered to the material surface by the two-axis scanner mounted with mirrors. A personal computer controls the movement of the scanner and the firing of the CVL. The high peak power of the pulsed CVL is focussed to very high energy density producing plasma ablation of the alloy surface. Very fine markings of a few microns width can be produced enabling the storage of detailed information of the deceased person on a metal surface for the purpose of rapid identification.