The effect of occlusal contact localization on the stress distribution in complete maxillary denture

Abstract

The fracture of acrylic resin dentures is an unresolved problem in removable prosthodontics despite many efforts to determine its cause. Unfavourable occlusion could be playing an important role in the fracture of the denture. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of occlusal contact localization on the stress distribution in complete maxillary denture bases utilizing two-dimensional finite element analysis. The results of this study have shown that maximum compressive stresses in a complete maxillary denture under functional masticatory forces concentrates always on the artificial tooth/denture base junction irrespective to the occlusal contact localization. Tensile stresses were observed in areas toward the midline, although the midline itself usually had lower stresses. Shifting the occlusal contacts to a more buccal localization resulted in an increase of the calculated stresses. As a conclusion, it can be speculated that the buccal placement of the occlusal contacts may play a role in the fatigue fracture of the complete maxillary denture.

A Functional Stress Analysis in the Maxillary Complete Denture Influenced by the Position of Artificial Teeth and Load Levels: an In-vitro Study

“…The results of the present study agree with those of Ates et al [13] who stated that shifting the occlusal contacts to a more buccal localization resulted in an increase of the calculated stresses towards midline (tensile) of the palate in complete maxillary denture. They concluded that the buccal placement of occlusal contacts may play a role in fatigue fracture of the complete maxillary denture.…”

Stress analysis of a complete maxillary denture under various drop impact conditions: a 3D finite element study

“…It is well known that an edentulous patient can only exert occlusal forces at a level of 15 -25% of dentate patients and an acrylic complete denture bears tensile stress values about 48-62 MPa, and compressive stress values about 75 MPa considering local stress concentrations (Ates et al 2006). As a consequence, the denture is not expected to fracture under functional masticatory forces (Beyli and von Fraunhofer 1981;Ates et al 2006). However, fractures in dentures are reported.…”

“…Many methods of experimental stress analysis, such as brittle coating, photoelastic models, strain gauges, have been used to examine the stress distribution in complete maxillary dentures as in Vlissidis (2006, 2009), as well as numerical models applying finite element methods (FEM; Beyli and von Fraunhofer 1981;Darbar et al 1996;Hengyi et al 2004;Ates et al 2006;Prombonas and Vlissidis 2009;Cheng, Li, et al 2010). All these studies show that the stress concentrates in the anterior palatal areas of maxillary dentures.…”

The stress state of the fraenal notch region in complete upper dentures

“…FEA techniques have recently been introduced into the analysis of the deformation of complete dentures [14,18,19]. An FEA solution is only approximate due to the use of discrete mesh models, which are seldom exact representations of the physical problem, although the errors can be reduced by using a sufficiently fine mesh [16,17].…”

“…The stresses and strains in the palatal region of the CUDs have been measured experimentally using several methodologies, including brittle coatings [1], strain gauges [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9], photoelastic models [10,11], holography [12], a scanning electron microscope replica technique [13], and simulations such as finite element analysis (FEA) [14]. The above researches referred to the maximum values of strains and stresses under a single load (maximum load), without taking into account the realities of mastication which takes place under fluctuated loading.…”