Denture modification and adjustment for confortable mastication

Abstract

In super-aged society, there are characteristic demands for denture treatment which we did not experienced in several decades ago. Although high complicacy of patient’s condition would often be involved for the dental treatment because of the deterioration of the functional ability, higher success would be expected in order to fulfil the requirements from the patient, family and care givers. Not only the deterioration of the dexterity of the tongue, lip and cheek, but also the circumstances on eating would affect the design of denture prosthesis. The design suitable for eating with help of caregiver is apparently different from the design advocated by denture experts in several decades ago. Therefore, development of a new concept for denture fabrication which could easily fulfill the requirements of super aged edentulous patients is highly expected. Lower complete denture which is stable for 3 seconds when mouth opens approximately 3 cm wide would be a reasonable requirement for the healthy food intake for edentulous patients. In the present report, several clues for the diagnosis and treatment concept which fit the above mentioned conditions are reported, with some theoretical point of view. Combination of the objective evaluation method of denture stability and the way of coping with the results on the set would be helpful.