Purpose
CAD/CAM complete dentures have increased in popularity and a wide variety of systems are currently available. These prostheses present many advantages for clinicians, technicians and patients. Subtractive manufacturing is used by most of the available systems while a few manufacturers use an additive manufacturing technique. This article describes the currently available systems and materials available for the fabrication of CAD/CAM complete dentures and reviews the literature relative to their physical properties.
Methods
A comprehensive review of the literature was completed to enumerate the currently available techniques to fabricate CAD/CAM complete dentures and discuss their physical properties. A search of English language peer‐reviewed literature was undertaken using MEDLINE and PubMed on research articles published between 2000 and 2019. A hand search of relevant dental journals was also completed.
Results
The literature indicates the physical properties of CAD/CAM milled poly(methylmethacrylate) or PMMA as it is commonly described is superior to conventionally processed PMMA for the fabrication of complete dentures.
Conclusion
The incorporation of CAD/CAM technology into complete denture design and fabrication streamlines the clinical and laboratory processes and provides improved physical properties that enhance denture quality.
The use of computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing in the fabrication of complete removable dentures has demonstrated that the prostheses produced are superior in many ways to removable dentures produced using analog techniques. A variety of clinical workflows that take advantage of digital technology have been shown to shorten the number of appointments required to produce high quality prostheses. This paper presents an overview of additive manufacturing in contemporary removable complete denture workflows and describes effective three appointment clinical techniques using additive manufacturing to produce a clinical trial denture and definitive prosthesis.
Intraoral central bearing tracing has been shown to be a predictable way of recording and verifying centric relation position for patients. Existing tracing devices are challenging to use due to several significant clinical limitations. In comparison to commercially available counterparts, this article presents a technique that simplifies instrumentation and clinical steps to make an intraoral tracer for making centric relation records, determining occlusal vertical dimension, and detecting deflective occlusal contacts in edentulous patients.
The reconstruction of boney defects of the mandible are a challenge in surgical therapy despite advances in bone grafting. This case study details a 30-year-old female who sustained a gunshot wound to the mandible leaving a 5 cm boney defect. This defect was reconstructed utilizing preoperative three-dimensional (3D) planning, an accurately pre-bent reconstruction plate, and a novel "triad" construct of autogenous bone graft, demineralized bone matrix, and an osteoprotective membrane. This reconstruction workflow allowed maintenance of the contour of the mandible and bone regeneration while also acting as a barrier to other tissues. This new technique reduced operative donor site morbidity and decreased surgical time dramatically, allowing the patient to be discharged the same day. The patient has a 5-year follow-up with panorex film and a biopsy of the graft area showing normal cortical bone. This case report illustrates the combination of advanced technology and novel products which can decrease operating time, decrease anesthesia time, increase precision, and most importantly decrease patient morbidity.
Key words:3-dimensional prototyping, osteoprotective membrane, acellular dermal matrix, demineralized bone matrix putty, bone morphogenetic proteins, osteopromotion, pre-bending, reconstruction plate
ABSTRACTArticle history:
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