2022 Volume 14 Issue 2 Pages 150-157
Purpose: To determine a horizontal arch applicable to designing the arrangement of artificial teeth constituting a complete denture, we statistically examined a method of expressing the artificial dental arch shape for complete dentures, with reference to the shape of the natural dentition in individuals with normal occlusion.
Method: The study examined the complete lower denture and normal natural dentition of the mandible of patients. Placing the central groove of the artificial lower molars at the mid-point of the buccolingual dimension of the lower molar alveolar ridge in edentulous individuals, points of measurement were set on the horizontal plane of the arch of artificial teeth constituting the complete lower denture, an approximation curve forming a standard arch was determined. Furthermore, to confirm the validity of the location of artificial teeth constituting the complete denture, the t-test was conducted on the mean coordinate value at each point of measurement selected on the complete denture in comparison to that on the normal natural dentition.
Results: A statistical analysis of the mean arch shape of the complete denture and that of the normal natural dentition, expressed by the approximation curve depicted with the mean coordinate values of selected measuring points, showed that the width did not differ significantly between them.
The mean artificial dental arch shape, representing the horizontal aspect of the artificial dental arch for complete dentures, was calculated with the regression formula and expressed as a quartic polynomial curve with a high degree of correlation.
Conclusion: The horizontal arch for creation of a complete denture could be designed from the mean shape of artificial dental arches. This arch is expected to serve as a standard arch allowing simplified designing of the arrangement of artificial teeth constituting a complete denture and is thus clinically useful in arranging artificial teeth in individual patients and developing new connected artificial teeth.
