Hollow Dentures: Treatment Option for Atrophic Ridges. A Clinical Report

Abstract

Severely atrophic ridges provide decreased retention, support, and stability and pose a clinical challenge to the success of complete denture prostheses. Extreme ridge resorption also increases the interridge distance. Restoration of the vertical dimension and esthetics thus demands increased height of the prosthesis and in turn leads to an increase in prosthesis weight. Reducing the weight of the denture enhances stability and retention and reduces further resorption of the jaw, thereby favoring the prognosis of the denture. This report describes the rehabilitation of an edentulous patient with resorbed maxillary and mandibular ridges and an increased interridge distance using simplified techniques of fabricating hollow dentures.

The Hollow Maxillary Complete Denture: A Simple, Precise, Single‐Flask Technique Using a Caramel Spacer

“…In these techniques, the junction becomes a weak site and is prone to fracture and may undergo discoloration with time. Also, the junction creates a site of potential leakage, which may cause seepage of fluid into the denture cavity . In the above‐mentioned technique, a single‐piece, heat‐polymerized hollow denture was fabricated with slight modifications at the time of packing, resulting in a denture with minimal adjustments at insertion, minimal chance of leakage, and uniform thickness of acrylic resin around the cavity.…”

“…The method described here has several advantages over the techniques previously described for the fabrication of a hollow denture. 2,8,10,15 Most of the methods described in the literature have either used two flasks, 8,9,15 which is time consuming and technically demanding, or a clear matrix template technique, 2,10 which is also time consuming and requires multiple measurements to achieve adequate thickness of acrylic resin. In other methods 8,9,15 auto-or heat-polymerizing resins have been used to join the two parts of the prosthesis that have been fabricated separately.…”

“…If the usual techniques of denture fabrication are followed in such cases, it may result in a heavy prosthesis, which compounds the problem associated with retention and resistance of the maxillary prosthesis . Methods used in the past to improve the retention and stability of heavy complete dentures include the use of implants, the use of magnets, modified impression techniques, intramucosal inserts, suction disks, and lightweight dentures …”

“…Numerous 3D spacers have been used to achieve this hollow cavity. Some of the materials used are dental stone, cellophane‐wrapped asbestos, silicone putty, gauze rolled and coated with light‐body silicone, modeling clay, and thermocol …”

“…2 Methods used in the past to improve the retention and stability of heavy complete dentures include the use of implants, 3 the use of magnets, 4 modified impression techniques, 5 intramucosal inserts, 6 suction disks, 7 and lightweight dentures. 2,[8][9][10] A lightweight prosthesis needs a hollow cavity within its body. Numerous 3D spacers have been used to achieve this hollow cavity.…”