Influence of complete dentures on soft tissue in the lower facial region

Abstract

We attempted to obtain indexes for the objective evaluation of esthetic recovery in clinical prosthodontics, by analyzing the influence of complete dentures on the soft tissue in the lower facial region. We modified several dentures to determine how changes in the vertical dimension and modifications to the artificial teeth and flange areas changed esthetics. Facial measurements were done with a 3D sharp measurement system(VOXELAN, NKK, Tokyo, Japan). We found that placement of the teeth and modifications to the denture base significantly changed the lower facial soft tissues. This was reflected in the height of the lips, lip angle, nasolabial angle and the distance between the lip and the E-line. These items seem to be useful indexes of the lower facial soft tissue support. As the vertical dimensions were changed, significant differences resulted in the width of the mouth, height of the lip, lip angles, and surface area of the lips. The results suggest that these values can be used as indexes of the change in vertical dimension.