Abstract
A 72-year-old woman visited our hospital complaining of pain when chewing. She had been wearing upper and lower complete dentures 3 months before, but she had difficulty chewing from the beginning, and repeated adjustments did not improve her condition. The upper and lower dentures were fitted to the respective alveolar ridges, but redness was observed in the mucosa beneath the mandibular molars and pain was caused during chewing. Because of a suspicion of incorrect mandibular position, the patient was asked to quietly close the mouth while wearing dentures, which led to the mandible being guided backwards. Therefore, it was thought that the cause was a misalignment of the mandible due to the forward displacement of the mandible during the bite registration. A bite registration was taken with the patient's mouth quietly closed using the existing dentures, and the upper and lower dentures were removed as a unit. The upper and lower dentures were scanned using a lab scanner, the lower denture was created using a 3D printer, and a new denture was produced to correct the misalignment of the mandibular position. After fitting a new denture that corrected the mandibular position and adjusting the fit of the inner surface of the denture and the occlusion, the redness and pain in the mucosa disappeared and the masticatory performance test score improved. The application of digital technology has made it possible to fabricate a new denture only with bite taking, which is thought to have contributed to reducing the psychological and physical burden on the patient.
