Date of Award
Spring 2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Dentistry
First Advisor
Cho, Seok Hwan
Second Advisor
Thompson, Geoffrey A.
Third Advisor
Maroulakos, Georgios
Abstract
Introduction: There is a dearth of information in the refereed literature regarding esthetics of CAD/CAM complete removable dental prostheses (CRDPs). The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the anterior denture teeth arrangement made with the medium-size anterior tooth mold template to CAD/CAM complete removable dental prostheses fabricated with bonded denture teeth and milled teeth. Material and methods: Poly-vinyl siloxane impression were made of an edentulous maxillary model and selected for use as the patient template. The edentulous model was mounted on a semi-adjustable articulator. Definitive impressions and jaw relation records were made according to the manufacturer’s protocol. Digital mock-ups of the denture tooth arrangement were received by the manufacturer and confirmed prior to processing. Ten CRDPs were generated; subgroups of 5 units were made and divided into 2 groups. One-half of the CRDPs were made by bonding manufactured denture teeth onto denture base milled from pre-polymerized PMMA pucks, while the other half were made by milling denture teeth directly. For comparison, a Canon 70D camera mounted on a tripod was used for photographic documentation. All photos were taken during the same day. Reference markers placed on the edentulous model were used to orient and measure photos using Photoshop CS4. Data was collected in the X-plane and the Y-plane and compared with the tooth mold template. Data were statistically analyzed by Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests (α=.05) Results: No statistical difference was found when CAD/CAM CRDPs milled and bonded were compared. The tooth mold template represented the position of the central incisors on the milled teeth and bonded teeth CRDPs. The inter-canine distance was found to be 5 mm narrower on the CRDPs than the tooth mold template. The canines on the CRDPs were 1 to 2 mm incisal when compared to the tooth mold template. Conclusions: Tooth arrangements in bonded and milled CAD/CAM CRDPs did not accurately reproduce the tooth mold template’s measurements in terms of intercanine distance and position. There was no significant difference between tooth position on the milled and bonded CAD/CAM CRDPs.