Incisal Ridge Reconstruction Using Removable Partial Prosthesis Summary

Incisal Ridge Reconstruction Using Removable Partial Prosthesis Summary

The wear of dental hard tissues is a long-term process, which can
cause complete wear of clinical crowns. Complete oral rehabilitation
is then needed to restore damaged oral relations. Unfortunately, such
therapy is often financially unsuitable to the patients. A case is
reported of such patient treatment, using an upper partial removable
denture with metal base, which provided satisfactory functional and
aesthetic effect at minimum cost.
Key words: incisal ridge, tooth wear, removable partial denture

Introduction
Intermaxillar vertical dimension decrease is mostly the result of distal tooth lost and/or wear of clinical crowns of all remaining teeth. According to
Pindborg (1), the wear of dental hard tissues is a process that can be divided into: erosion, attrition, abrasion and perimyolysis. Aetiology of dental hard
tissues is often unknown, so it is usually said to be multicausal. Ekfelt defines the number of teeth, sex, bruxism, age, buffer capacity of saliva as some of
the potential factors, although they explain only 41% of all recorded dental hard tissue wear (2). It is definitely a long-term process (2), which can
progradiate till the complete clinical crown disappears (3). Such patients, about 0.5-4% of the population, come to the dentist with different degrees of clinical crown wear in vertical and/or horizontal dimension, requiring prosthodontic care
(2). Prosthetic treatment can be semi-irreversible or irreversible. Examples of the first type are composite resin buildups, partial removable dentures and overdentures. The second type are various fixed prosthodonics constructions such as full and partial crowns, onlays, laminates, etc. (2). In the case of advansed tooth wear complete oral rehabilitation is needed in order to re-establish damaged intermaxillar relations and to remove or at least reduce consequences to the whole masticatory system. Because of the small retentive area of the clinical crown the remaining part i.e.- the abutment tooth, more retention it is often necessary. This can be achieved by the use of cast metal posts, which require intraradicular retention, i.e. adequate endodontical treatment of the root canal (3,4,5). It
is often hard to explain to the patient the need for pulp extraction on all remaining teeth, which is long-term (according to the number of remaining teeth) and a frustrating procedure for the patient. In addition, we cannot neglect the financial aspect of such oral rehabilitation, which also demands endodontic treatment and fixed prosthetic supras tructure. Therefore, dentists are forced to find solutions that will financially and aesthetically satisfy the patient, at minimal costs. This is becoming a problem for prosthetic patients’ treatment, not
only in our country but also in the richer countries of the world.