If one takes good care of their teeth and gums, they can enjoy their natural teeth for a lifetime. However, very few can do so, and most end up with decayed or missing teeth as they age. Many might even start losing their teeth earlier and may need dentures soon. Missing teeth can make one conscious of their looks as well as face difficulty when speaking and eating food.
Dentures are custom made appliances used to replace missing teeth and restore his looks and oral functions. The dentures may never feel exactly like one’s natural teeth and take some time getting used to. However, the dentures are improving with advancing technologies and are much more comfortable than ever as well as natural looking. You need to take good care of your dentures, or you would need denture repairs often.
There are two main kinds of dentures: full and partial. Depending on your needs, one can choose the denture that works best. A complete denture is used when the person loses all his teeth, and the partial denture is used only when some of the teeth are missing.
Why One Needs Denture Repairs?
The longer the denture is worn, the more likely will need a visit to the dentist for repair. A denture fracture is common, and the only solution lies in denture repairs. Recurrent fracture of the base of the denture is the most common. Gums and shrink and change in shape over the period and that can result in a poor fit of the denture, and this case, the upper and lower set don’t align perfectly or evenly. Thus, when one bites or chews, the excessive force on one area can lead to micro fractures in the denture material.
The weaker bonding strength between repair resin and denture base resin is often the cause of recurrent fracture as the interface is the weakest. The denture repairs material should match not only the color of the denture base but also the original strength. Numerous researches and studies have led to different materials, reinforcement and surface design for denture repair. The purpose is to improve the strength of the denture base and avoid recurrent fracture.
The Material Used for Denture Repairs
PMMA or auto-polymerized acrylic resin has been used commonly for repairing dentures for more than 60 years. It is most popular because it makes for a swift and simple repair. However, the main disadvantage of PMMA is the weaker strength. Several materials have been incorporated to improve the resilience of AP acrylic resin, such as Microwave (MW), heat polymerized (HP), and light polymerized resins (VLP).
The denture repairs surface design is of equal importance as it influences the bonding strength. There are several joints like rabbet, inverse rabbet, butt, round, bevel, inverse, and knife edge. Among these, the bevel joint demonstrates the maximum mechanical property and is favored because of its easy clinical application. The 45-degree bevel helps to raise the interfacial bond area and thus shifts the interfacial stress pattern away from the more destructive tensile stress.
Denture repairs material reinforcement is another important factor for denture repair. One of the disadvantages of reinforcement is the weaker adhesion between reinforcement material and resin matrix that can weaken the material rather than consolidating it. Treating the reinforcement material with a saline coupling agent can help increase the bond strength.
Nanotechnology is an interesting technology that has invaded the field of denture repairs. The addition of zirconia nanoparticles helps to improve the repair strength. It can be concluded that the most critical factors affecting denture repair rely on surface treatment and reinforcement materials along with the material and methods used for repairing the dentures.
Alyssa Moylan is an ordinary woman from Australia, a writer by day and a reader by night. She writes on various topics like lifestyle, health, travel and fashion. She likes to think of ways on how to solve daily life problems of people.
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