CAD/CAM produces dentures with improved fit

Area of Science:

• Dental Materials Science
• Biomaterials Engineering
• Prosthodontics

Background:

• Resin polymerization shrinkage in conventional dentures compromises denture base congruence and retention.
• Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) offers a subtractive manufacturing approach, potentially eliminating polymerization shrinkage issues.
• CAD/CAM dentures are hypothesized to exhibit superior denture base congruence compared to conventionally fabricated dentures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate and compare the denture base congruence of CAD/CAM manufactured dentures versus conventionally fabricated dentures.
• To test the hypothesis that CAD/CAM dentures demonstrate higher congruence with denture-bearing tissues.

Main Methods:

• Four different CAD/CAM denture systems (AvaDent, Merz Dental, Whole You, Wieland/Ivoclar) were fabricated from ten master casts.
• Ten conventional dentures (pack and press, long-term heat polymerization) were fabricated from the same master casts as controls.
• Master casts and all denture bases were digitally scanned, matched, and absolute incongruences measured using a 2-mm mesh.

Main Results:

• Conventionally fabricated dentures exhibited a mean deviation of 0.105 mm from the master cast.
• All tested CAD/CAM dentures demonstrated lower mean incongruences compared to conventional dentures.
• AvaDent Digital Dentures showed the highest congruence (mean deviation 0.058 mm), followed by Wieland (0.068 mm), Whole You (0.074 mm), and Baltic Denture System (0.086 mm).

Conclusions:

• CAD/CAM technology produces dentures with significantly better fit (congruence) than conventional fabrication methods.
• The enhanced fit of CAD/CAM dentures explains observed clinical benefits such as improved retention and reduced traumatic ulcer frequency.
• This study validates the clinical advantages of CAD/CAM in complete denture fabrication.