Removable Prosthetics Flashcards
What is support?
Resistance of vertical movements towards tissues. Obtained from; - rest seats - tooth supported - ridges - mucosa supported - palate - mucosa supported
What are the consequences of poor RPD support (generally)?
- Compromised function
- Poor occlusal stability
- Ulceration
- residual ridge resorption
- Limited teeth stability
- Limited aesthetics
What anatomical structure provides tooth support?
Periodontal ligament
- specialised to receive vertical forces
- sensory perception
What is an RPD rest?
A rigid component of RPD which fits in a recessed preparation (rest seat) on the occlusal, lingual or incisal surface of a tooth to provide vertical support for the denture
What is an RPD rest seat?
A portion of a tooth selected and prepared to receive an occlusal, incisal or lingual rest
Types include; occlusal, cingulum, incisal, overlay and precision.
What is the function of RPD rests?
- Directs the forces along the long axis of the abutment tooth.
- Prevents the denture base from moving cervically and impinging on gingival tissues
- Maintain clasp-tooth relationship
- Prevent extrusion of abutment teeth
- Provides positive reference seats in rebase and reline impression
- Serves as an indirect retainer by preventing rotation of the partial denture
What is the function of RPD rests?
Directs the forced along the long axis of the abutment tooth.
Prevent the denture base from moving cervically and impinging gingival tissues.
What is an occlusal rest?
A rest placed on the occlusal surface of premolar or molar.
It has a characteristic design that looks like a spoon - with a rounded triangular shape with its apex nearest to the centre of the tooth. The base of the triangular shape is at the marginal ridge and should be 1/3 the bucco-lingual width of the tooth. The marginal ridge must be lowered and rounded to allow sufficient bulk of metal (1-1.5mm). The floor of the rest seat should be inclined towards the centre of the, the angle formed by the rest and minor connector should be less than 90 degrees - ensuring that the material will stay.
What is a cingulum rest?
A rest placed on the cingulum of an anterior tooth - usually a canine.
- More suitable for maxillary canines as they have an exaggerated cingulum.
What are the types of cingulum rests?
- Inverted V shape
2. Round form
What is an incisal rest?
A rest placed on an anterior tooth at the incisal edge.
- Significantly affects the aesthetics
What is an overlay?
Coverage of all the occlusal surface of molar or premolar.
- Ideal of occlusal alteration and changing vertical dimension
Intracoronal (precision) rest
A rest consisting of precision manufactured attachments that are placed within the coronal contours of a crown or retainer.
Disadvantage of ridges
- More limited and less specialised than teeth
- Compromised substitute for PDL
- Limited tolerance and adaptability
- Unsuitable for load bearing
- Can results in tipping or RPD during function - due to uneven distribution of functional forces over the edentulous area (one side is supported by teeth (hard tissue), while the other is supported by soft tissues). Maximal mucosal coverage can enhance support - needs to be fully extended to sulcus depth.
- Further bone resorption affects the RPD fit
What are maxillary primary support areas that resist occlusal loading?
1 - Hard palate
2 - Buccal shelves
What are the mandibular support areas that are more ideal to resisting occlusal loading?
- Retromolar pads
2. Buccal shelves
Examples of compromised edentulous areas
- Severely resorbed ridge
- increased tenderness on function
- Hyperplastic or flabby ridges
- compromised RPD support
- loss of occlusal contacts
Management of compromised edentulous areas
Modified impression techniques
- Muco-compressive impression technique - recording soft tissues under some loading
- Altered cast technique - Distributing the loads to maximal area possible
What is the muco-compressive impression technique?
Mucocompressive means that the impression is taken when the mucosa is subject to compression.
These impressions will generally lead to a denture that is most stable during function but not at rest.
What is the altered cast technique?
The altered cast technique allows the ridge, recorded in functional form, to be related to the teeth so that when the prosthesis is seated, it derives support simultaneously from the teeth and the denture base.
Why is palatal coverage important?
- Provides maximal coverage for support - especially when there are less teeth
- Significantly enhances the performance of Kennedy Class I and II maxillary RPD.
What is RPD retention?
Resistance of dislodging forces during function
Direct retention examples
- Retentive clasp
Indirect retention examples
- Specific rest seats
How to achieve mechanical retention?
- Clasps engaging undercuts
- Frictional retention
- Dislodging force direction should be relative/similar to the path of placement
Retention via patient muscular control
Muscles action against polished surface of the denture
Concave flanges are preferred to help with this.
Inherant physical forces of retention
- Enhanced palatal coverage
- adhesion, cohesion, interfacial surface tension and atmospheric pressure.
How is mechanical retention provided via clasps?
The clasping unit engages with an abutment tooth as to resist displacement of the prosthesis away from the basal seat tissues
Requirements of the clasping unit
- Support - resistance to gingival displacement (occlusal rest)
- Reciprocity - resistance to orthodontic movement of teeth (reciprocal arm, minor connector)
- Stability - resistance to lateral movement (reciprocal arm, minor connector)
- Retention - resistance to dislodging forces of the abutment (retentive arm)
- Encirclement of greater than 180 degree of abutment tooth
- Passivity
What are the determining factors for clasp selection?
- Flexibility
- Position of the undercut
- Health of PDL
- Shape of the sulcus
- Aesthetics
- Occlusion
Factors influencing flexibility
- Section: a round section claps will flex equally in all directions. Half-round clasps will flex more horizontally than vertically.
- Thickness: thickness significantly effects flexibility. Reducing the thickness by half, results in flexibility increasing by a factor of 8.
- Length: the longer the clasp arm the more flexible it is.
- Metal: chromium has high stiffness (modulus of elasticity), twice the stiffness of gold
What are the types of oclusally approaching clasps?
- Circumferential (Aker’s)
- Ring
- Embrasure (double Aker’s)
- C-clasp
Circumferential (Aker’s) clasp
- Most simple and versatile claps
- The retentive arm begins above the height of contour and curves and tapers to its terminal tip
- The distal 1/3 of the arm engages the undercut
Advantages of Aker’s clasp
- Excellent bracing qualities
- Easy to design and construct
- Less potential for food accumulation below the clasp
Disadvantages of the Aker’s clasp
- More tooth coverage
2. Metal display
Ring clasp
- Encircles the entire abutment tooth
- Commonly used for tilted molars
- Undercut is next to the edentulous area
- Supporting strut on the non-retentive side
- Auxiliary rest seat on opposite side
Advantages of the ring clasp
- Excellent bracing
2. Uses available undercut adjacent to edentulous areas
Disadvantages of ring clasp
- Covers large area of tooth surface
- Needs an additional rest
- Difficult to adjust
Embrasure (double Aker’s) clasp
- Used in quadrant when no edentulous areas exists
- Composed of 2 rests, 2 retentive arms and 2 bracing arms
- Double rests are required to prevent weakening of clasp arms
- Buccal and lingual occlusal proximal areas must be reduced to provide room and avoid occlusal interferences
- Should be used with discretion
Advantages of embrasure clasp
- Allows for direct retainer placement
Disadvantages of embrasure clasp
- Extensive inter-proximal reduction
2. Covers a large area of tooth surface
C-clasp clamp (reverse action clamp)
- The retentive area is adjacent to the occlusal rest (ring clasp has a retentive area opposite to rest)
- Alternative to ring clasp
Advantages of the C-clasp
Uses the undercut adjacent to edentulous space
Disadvantage of C-clasp
- Difficult to adjust
- Not aesthetic
- Difficult to make
- Covers extensive tooth surface
- Food trapping
- Limited flexibility
Gingivally approaching clasps
- Contacts the tooth at its tip
- Approaches from the gingiva
- There should be no anatomical obstacles
- Influences by the shape of the sulcus
Advantages of gingivally-approaching clasp
Less influence on occlusion
More aesthetic
Disadvantages of gingivally approaching clasp
Less hygienic
Deep sulcus
No hard tissue undercuts
Gingivally-approaching clasp variations
- I-bar
- L-bar
- T-bar
What is the RPI system?
R: Occlusal Rest
P: Distal guide Plate
I: Gingivally approaching I bar
Provides all the function of the clasping unit.
Not used unless there are no posterior teeth.
Used on premolar mandibular teeth.
Principles of the RPI system
The distal guide plate is located at the gingival third of the guiding plane.
The RPI system allows vertical rotation of the distal extension saddle into the denture bearing mucosa under occlusal loading without disengaging the supporting structure of the abutment tooth.
As the saddle is pressed into the mucosa, the denture rotates around the point close to the mesial rest seat
The plate and the I bar disengage the tooth, eliminating the potentially harmful torque on the abutment tooth
Indications of the RPI system
- Free-end saddle area - Class I/II
- Premolars
- Presence of buccal or mesio-buccal undercut
- Compromised abutment tooth
Contraindications of RPI
- Insufficient vestibular depth (4mm from gingival margin)
- No labial or buccal undercut on the abutment
- Severe soft tissue undercut
- Distobuccal undercut
What is the RPA system?
Same system as RPI but with Aker’s clasp
What is a combination clasp?
A combination clasp is a circumferential retainer for a removable dental prosthesis that has a cast reciprocal arm and a round wrought wire retentive clasp.
Advantages of Combination clasp
- Better aesthetics
- Can be placed in deeper undercuts
- Round wrought wire is more flexible
What is indirect retention?
A feature of RPD that reduced the tendency of a denture base to move in an occlusal direction while rotating about the clasp axis line - usually relieved by placing a rest on a more anterior tooth. Dislodging forces include; gravity and food
The rest become the fulcrum of movement causing the clasp to remain in the undercut and preventing the denture from pivoting
Indirect retainers are placed opposite to saddles, parallel to the clasp axis.
What is a clasp axis?
A line formed from the retentive tips of a pair of clasps on opposite sides of the arch.
If there is more than one clasp axis, then the one close to the saddle contributes more to indirect retention.
Forms of indirect retainers
- Rests
- Palatal coverage
- Lingual plate
What is bracing?
Resistance to horizontal forces being applied on the denture during function
- anterior, posterior and lateral
What elements can help provide bracing?
On teeth: plates, reciprocating arms and minor connectors
On ridges: major connectors, flanges
What is reciprocation?
Bracing element of a clasping unit that is in contact with the side of the tooth opposite the retentive clasp arm
What is a connector?
An RPD feature that joins the components of the RPD
Functions of major connectors
- Unification: uniting all the components of the partial denture
- Stress distribution: even distribution of forces on all the abutments
- Cross-arch stabilisation
Requirements of major connectors
- Rigidity
- No interference with soft tissues
- Prevent food impaction
- Unobtrusive
Features of maxillary major connectors
- At least 6mm from gingival margins
- Tapered borders
- Smoothly curved outlines
- The posterior border should not extend to the soft palate
- The borders should be beaded
- The anterior border should merge with rugae region
- Should maintain peripheral seal
Advantages of maxillary major connector plates over bars
- More coverage
- Thinner
- Provides mucosal support
- Can blend with palatal mucosa
- More comfortable
Disadvantage of maxillary major connector bars
- Less coverage
- Thicker (2-3mm)
- Minimal contribution to support
- Noticeable
- Rarely used
Advantages of the mid-palatal plate
- Simple
- Uncovering all gingival margin
- Rigid
- Simple outline
- Well tolerated
Features of a palatal plate
- Maximal support
- Uncovered gingival margins
- Long distal extension
- 6 or less anterior teeth remaining
- Flabby ridges
- Shallow palate
Features of the anterior palatal strap
- Kennedy IV
- Lack of palatal support
- Rigidity might be compromised
- Hygiene may be compromised when gingival tissues are covered