A new digital denture procedure: a first practitioners appraisal

BACKGROUND: Historically, the complete removable denture is the last prosthetic procedure to switch to digital techniques whose advantages are mainly observed in the laboratory stages; however, it is not possible to measure the depressibility of the oral mucosa using optical cameras, thus conventional impression techniques are still necessary. This article describes the clinical and laboratory procedure and practitioners appraisal of the first fifteen digitally designed complete removable dental prostheses. METHODS: Several systems are now available including the Wieland® Digital Denture® which offers a complete procedure. This system is composed of a five axis-milling machine combined with a laboratory scanner and a design software application. Fifteen rehabilitations were carried out using the Wieland® system. RESULTS: The practitioner’s role is simplified by intraoral recording with a central point and a reduced number of sessions. The prosthesis laboratory requires considerable investment in learning and equipment, making it possible to obtain ideal mounting assemblies in accordance with the occluso-prosthetic concept of bilateral balanced occlusion. The absence of polymerization and therefore of base deformation risks reduce the equilibration step. Finally, the creation of templates as an alternative to the assembly of teeth on wax makes it possible to functionally validate (masticatory and phonatory) the future dentures. However, this procedure still presented some limitations in terms of scanning and software scope of applications. CONCLUSION: Digital denture design software is relatively efficient and helps to standardize clinical results. However, to this date, improvements of the software are still required for a routine use.