[Masticatory values of dental prostheses anchored to depulped teeth]

The progress of conservative and surgical treatment of pulpless teeth has increased the number of pulpless teeth within prothetic restorations. There is a dilemma about masticatory values of such teeth and about the maximum load they can bear, that is, what masticatory values the denture anchored to them will have. Tooth values were measured by gnatodynamometry. We used gnatodynamometer with electroresistant metal measurement strips whose deformity is proportional to the force which the tooth, namely, the denture, bears. Measurements were carried out on a sample of 33 pulpless teeth, that is, on the almost same number of dentures anchored to the teeth. The measured pulpless teeth showed lower values than control teeth. The control group comprised normal teeth of the same subject, the sam jaw, which neutralized the problem of individuality. After the prothetic reconstruction by which the tooth regained its function, we checked mastication values again, this time the values of the dentures anchored to the pulpless teeth. We can conclude that pulpless teeth have lower values than vital ones. The lower values resulted also from their dysfunction. Prothetic reconstruction increases mastication values of pulpless teeth, but they never reach the values of controls, namely, of vital teeth.