Clinical wear of different types of denture teeth after one year in service: A clinical study

Statement of problem

Worn denture teeth are a common reason for replacing complete dentures. However, clinical studies on the amount of denture tooth wear are lacking.

Purpose

The purpose of this clinical study was to compare the clinical wear of denture teeth made from double cross-linked (DCL) versus highly cross-linked (HCL) materials after 1 year in service.

Material and methods

Fourteen participants received maxillary and mandibular removable complete dentures (RCDs). The participants randomly received either DCL or HCL teeth. Each RCD was scanned with an intraoral scanner 1 week after finishing any occlusal adjustment and after 1 year. Occlusal contact marks were recorded using articulating paper, and photographs were made in centric and eccentric movements. The generated 1-week and 1-year standard tessellation language (STL) files of the scans were obtained and trimmed using the Geomagic X software program. After merging the files, the depth of the wear facets was measured using the software program tool that measures the vertical gap distance in micrometers at 100 points distributed on the contact areas. These areas were identified by using the segment tools in the software program. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze the differences between the collected data (α=.05).

Results

The DCL had higher mean ±standard deviation wear (62.7 ±40 µm) than the HCL (37 ±31 µm) after 1 year in service (P<.001).

Conclusions

Both DCL and HCL denture teeth showed acceptable clinical wear after 1 year of clinical use. HCL denture teeth showed more resistance to occlusal wear than DCL denture teeth.