Prosthodontic Rehabilitation of Patient with Anterior Hyper Function Syndrome

BACKGROUND: The success of prosthetic rehabilitation in patients with removable dentures depends on the achievement of the aesthetics, phonetics and most of all, proper use in the mastication process. All the patients that receive removable prostheses need a feeding education program. They must cut the food into smaller pieces, extend the length of time necessary for chewing and place the food upon both the right and left sides of the mouth at once. Bilaterally chewing with dentures will contribute to increased efficiency and denture stability during mastication. Using the anterior teeth for biting, as a result of increased pressure on the anterior ridge may lead to the anterior hyperfunction syndrome. CASE REPORT: The patient requested dental rehabilitation in our clinic for prosthetic dentistry two and a half years ago. We examined him and made therapy plan, for complete removable maxillary denture and partial mandibular denture. Besides our instructions for proper use of dentures and necessity for regular controls, his next visit was after two and a half years. He came with enlarged tuberosity and papillary hyperplasia in the pre-maxillary region. After oral surgery treatment (laser removing of hyperplastic tissue) and a healing period of four weeks, we made indirect relining on the upper denture, re-occlusion and re-articulation achieving weak contacts between the lower natural teeth and upper teeth of the complete denture. The patient was advised not to bite food with his anterior teeth, and avoid chewing very hard food which tends to imprint and displace dentures. CONCLUSION: Anterior hyperfunction syndrome with its high incidence is a disease with the need of interdisciplinary therapy approach. Fast diagnosis, thorough clinical examination using all available diagnostic tools, and choosing the right treatment is very challenging.