The loss of one's teeth can be quite challenging for affected patients. It can be difficult to come to terms with edentulism. But following tooth loss, the patient must also adapt to full dentures, which cover large parts of the palate and the jaw ridges. In the case of total prosthetics in particular, it is very important to meet the patient's expectations for esthetics and function. In addition to the reproduction of the mucogingival anatomy with the denture base, the key is a prefabricated tooth that allows us to provide patients with what they have lost in terms of shape and shade: natural-looking teeth that enable them to intuitively and adequately chew food. Dental Technician Boris Jovanovic shows us how this can be done in an economically and attractive way with VITA Multi Functional Teeth (MFT, VITA Zahnfabrik, Bad Säckingen, Germany) in collaboration with the dentist Dr. Kuangyin Zhang (both of Belgrade, Serbia).
VITA MFT - Beautiful and versatile for successful full dentures
Multiple extractions
A 50-year-old patient came to the practice because he had noticed a loosening of the wide-span bridge construction in his lower jaw and the individual remaining teeth in the upper jaw. After a detailed clinical examination and X-ray diagnostics, It was determined that due to generalized periodontal damage, none of the teeth were worth preserving and had to be extracted. After the wounds had healed, anatomical impressions were taken in order to produce individual trays on this basis. Master models based on mucodynamic impressions were made, and bite registrations were created from these. The master models were articulated based on the jaw relation record so that the prefabricated VITA MFT tooth could be set up in wax.
The patient's remaining dentition, which was not worth preserving, before the extraction.
Postoperative status with compact sutures in the upper jaw.
Variety of shapes and shades for the esthetic zone
Finding the right anterior set by working interactively with the patient was an essential step for later acceptance of the denture. The VITA MFT for solid standard dentures consists of durable HC polymer. Due to the anatomical layering of the enamel, neck and incisal mass, as well as its lively surface texture, the teeth appear intrinsically natural. Since the VITA MFT Anterior offers a selection of round, triangular, rectangular and square shapes in the VITA classical A1-D4 and the VITA SYSTEM 3D-MASTER shades, the patient's ideas could be matched without compromise
Setup with the closure of the articulator
After the esthetic zone, the posterior tooth area was set up with VITA MFT Posterior. The multifunctional occlusal surface design for all setup concepts enables quick setup, according to the cog wheel principle. Since the centric contact points are predefined, the antagonist set up in warmed wax is automatically in optimal occlusion to the antagonist area when the articulator is closed. This enabled a rapid, reliable setup. Finally, the mucogingival anatomy was meticulously modeled in wax to give the patient a realistic idea of the esthetics, wearing comfort and phonetics during the clinical try-in.
Biomimetic gingiva
The biomimetic modeling of the gingiva is based on many years of analysis of countless intraoral images and the study of professional literature. It took two years to develop a technique for realistically reproducing the attached gingiva in wax. Now in addition to an electric wax knife, only two specifically modified modeling instruments are used, which now produce the desired result quickly and easily. After minimal modifications, the two dentures could be implemented in synthetic material.
Implementation in synthetic material
The attached gingiva was made lighter in shade than the movable mucogingival parts. The Candulor AESTHETIC Colors 53 and 55 (Candulor, Glattpark, Switzerland) were used for the internal characterization. Since the wax modeling was carried out so meticulously, only the teeth were polished with the hand instrument after heat polymerization. A goat hair brush, a cotton buff and universal and composite polishing pastes were used. The denture base was only smoothed and sealed with the light-curing VITA ENAMIC GLAZE.
The highly-esthetic, full denture work simulates the anatomy perfectly
The three-dimensionally layered VITA MFT appears absolutely natural in combination with the denture bases.
Summary
The VITA MFT proved to be a high-quality and economical tooth; not only was the team of dentist and dental technician absolutely satisfied, but above all, the patient was as well. In combination with a meticulous biomimetic reproduction of the gingiva in wax, a highly esthetic restoration was created. The economical solution helped the patient to take the big step towards edentulism.
Both dentures are integrated absolutely harmoniously in the mouth.