The retention and stability of removable prosthodontic appliances are closely related to the occlusion and arrangement of artificial teeth.
The purpose of this study was to develop a clinically oriented computer aided system for analyzing the relation between residual ridge shape and artificial posterior teeth arrangement using the finite element method. The frontal section of the upper and lower alveolar residual ridge were traced on the digitizing board and the finite element model was automatically proceed.
Following conclusions were obtained.
1) Influence of artificial posterior teeth location on the displacement and stress distribution can be easily understood by using graphical outputs of this system.
2) This system was proved to have great potentialities for the clinical and educational appication.