Effects of offset values for artificial teeth positions in CAD/CAM complete denture

Abstract

Recently, computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology has been applied to the field of removable complete denture prosthodontics. We developed a system for fabricating complete dentures applying CAD/CAM technology. In this system, artificial teeth were bonded to the recesses of a milled denture base. However, the offset values needed for the recesses are not known. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the accuracy of bonded artificial teeth positions in 0.00 (control), 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, and 0.25mm offset recess groups. Four types of artificial teeth, upper left central incisor (UL1), upper left canine (UL3), upper left first premolar (UL4), and upper left first molar (UL6), were used. Each type of artificial tooth was arranged at regular intervals on the denture base model with the CAD software. These data were defined as the master data. The artificial teeth parts were subtracted from the denture base model by Boolean logic operations in order to make recesses, and the recesses were then offset in five values. Based on these denture base data, prepolymerized resin blocks were milled (n=3). After bonding artificial teeth on the milled denture base model, a cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scan was performed to obtain scanned data. Deviations between the master data and the scanned data were calculated. Based on the results, the optimal offset values were found to be 0.15-0.25mm for UL1, 0.15 and 0.25mm for UL3, 0.25mm for UL4, and 0.10-0.25mm for UL6.

Keywords: Accuracy; Artificial teeth; Complete denture; Measurement; Offset.