Trial of a CAD/CAM system for fabricating complete dentures

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the fabrication of a complete denture using a CAD/CAM system. Cone beam CT was used to measure the complete denture and the artificial teeth. After a 3D complete denture image was structured using 3D CAD software, we factored out the artificial teeth and obtained a 3D denture base image. A machining center cut an acrylic resin block, and fabricated an acrylic complete denture base. The artificial teeth were bonded to the cut denture base using resin cement. A 3D digitizer digitized the fabricated acrylic denture. We measured the deviations between the master 3D complete denture image and the 3D data of the fabricated acrylic denture. The average deviations from the master 3D image were 0.50 mm for the occlusal surface. This present study indicates that it is possible to fabricate a complete denture using a CAD/CAM system.