Laboratory procedures

Knowledge of the laboratory phase of RPD construction is essential for the clinician
who must assume total responsibility for the design and the quality control of all aspect
of its construction. Also for effective communication between the clinician and the
technician.
Cast preparation
Before construction of the RPD framework the technician must transfer the design from
the diagnostic cast to the master cast.
Beading is a term used to denote the scrubbing of a shallow groove on the maxillary
master cast outlining the palatal major connector exclusive of rugae areas.
The purposes of beading are as follows:
1. To transfer the major connector design to the investment cast.
2. To provide a visible finishing line for the casting.
3. To ensure intimate tissue contact of the major connector with selected
palatal tissue
Beading is readily accomplished by using an appropriate instrument, such as a cleoid
carver. Care must be exercised to create a groove not in excess of 0.5 mm in width or
depth.
Sealer
The master cast must be treated with a surface sealer. The sealer is a mixture of
acetone, diethyl phthalate, and cellulose acetate.
The material provides an almost imperceptible film that protects the design throughout
the blockout and duplication processes.
Blockout
It is the act of placing wax or other materials into undesirable undercuts on the master
cast. Wax is placed apical to the height of contour and is not applied in areas where
intimate metal contact is desired.

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Waxing and Investing the Removable Partial Denture Before Processing Acrylic-Resin Bases
Waxing the removable partial denture base before investing differs little from waxing a complete denture.
The only difference is the waxing of and around exposed parts of the metal framework.

At the framework–denture base junction, undercut finishing lines should be provided whenever possible.
Then the waxing is merely butted to the finishing line with a little excess to allow for finishing.

In most situations, the border thickness of the denture should be left as recorded in the impression.

The only exceptions are:

1. the distolingual aspect of the mandibular denture base, to prevent interference with the tongue,

2. the distobuccal aspect of the maxillary denture base, to prevent interference with the coronoid process
of the mandible.

In investing a removable partial denture for processing an acrylic-resin base, it must be remembered that
the denture cast must be recovered from the flask intact for remounting.

Investing procedure:

1. invest the cast only to the top of the tinfoil on the base, smoothing the investment and applying a
reliable separator.

2. Then a second layer of investment placed around the anatomic portion of the cast covers the natural
teeth and the exposed parts of the denture framework. This is likewise smoothed and made free of
undercuts and coated with a separator before the top half of the flask is poured.

3. Recovery of the cast is thus made easier by having a shell of investment over the anatomic portion of
the cast, which may be removed separately.

When the denture base is to be characterized by applying tinted acrylic-resins to the mold, care should be
taken not to embed the wax border in the lower half of the flask. Investing only to the border of the wax,
leaving the entire surface that is to be tinted reproduced in the upper half of the flask. With this precaution,
tinting may be carried all the way to the border, and later removal of the flask will not harm the tinted
surface.

If tinting is not to be done or is to be done only at the cervical margins of the teeth and the papillae, the wax
border should be embedded in the lower half, where it may be faithfully reproduced and preserved during
polishing.

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Boil out

• Immersion of a flask containing the invested denture in boiling water for 5 minutes will adequately
soften the wax supporting the artificial teeth so that flask halves may be separated and the remaining
wax flushed out.
• After wax elimination with boiling water, the invested denture should be flushed with a solution of
grease-dissolving detergent and again with clean boiling water

• Immediately after boil out, the warm mold should be painted with a thin film of tinfoil substitute, with
care taken to not allow it to collect around the cervical portions of the teeth. No tinfoil substitute should
be used on any part of the denture teeth.

• A second coat should be applied after the first coat has reasonably dried, and packing of the mold
should proceed immediately after this film has dried to the touch.

The ideal acrylic-resin base material for removable partial dentures:

1. may be used without trial packing.

2. possesses a shade that is compatible with surrounding tissue.

3. is dimensionally stable and accurate.

4. is dense and lends itself to polishing.

5. polymerizes completely.

Remounting and Occlusal Correction to an Occlusal Template:

• Even with improved denture base materials and processing techniques, some movement of artificial
teeth will still occur because of the dimensional instability of the wax in which the artificial teeth were
arranged.

Precautions to be taken in remounting:

1. Make sure that the base of the cast has been reduced to fit the flask before keying and mounting, so it
will not have to be altered later.

2. Bevel the margins of the base of the cast so it will seat in a definite boxlike manner in the articulator
mounting.

3. Notch the posterior and anterior aspects of the base to ensure its return to its original position.

4. Lubricate lightly the base and sides of the cast before it is mounted to facilitate its easy removal from
the mounting stone.

5. Add tinfoil or lightly lubricate the base and sides of the cast before flasking it, so that traces of
investment will not be present to interfere with remounting.

6. When remounting the cast, secure it in the articulator with sticky wax, a hot glue gun, or modeling
plastic, followed by stone over both the mounting and the sides of the cast.

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7. Before adjusting the occlusion, make certain that no traces of investment remain on the vertical stops.

8. Take care to not abrade the opposing occlusal surface during occlusal adjustment.

9. Occlusal readjustment to an occlusal template is complete when the stone vertical stops are again in
contact.

Polishing the Denture:

1. Denture Borders

2. Facial Surfaces

3. Finishing Gingival and Interproximal Areas

Denture Borders

• Finishing and polishing the denture borders should consist only of removing any flash and artifact blebs.
Otherwise, borders should be left as recorded in the impression.

• The dentist must correct any overextension remaining after arbitrarily trimming the border from cast
landmarks in the mouth. It is preferable for the dentist to finish the borders of dentures, having
painstakingly developed them during impression procedures.

Facial Surfaces

• The facial surfaces of the denture base are those polished surfaces lying between the buccal borders and
the supplied teeth.

• Polishing of concave surfaces is always more difficult than polishing of flat and convex surfaces. If such
contours are established previously in wax, not only is finishing more easily accomplished, but border
and gingival areas are less likely to be inadvertently altered.

Finishing Gingival and Interproximal Areas

• The contouring of gingival and interproximal areas after processing is difficult and generally
unsatisfactory.

1. Interproximally, the papillae should be convex rather than concave.

2. The gingival attachment should be free of grooves and ditches that would accumulate debris and stain
and should be as free for cleansing as possible.

• Finishing should consist only of trimming around the teeth and the papillae with small round burs to
create a more natural simulation of living tissue, plus light stippling with an off-center round bur for the
same reason.

• Polishing should consist only of light buffing with brush wheels and pumice, and finally with a soft brush
wheel and a nonabrasive polishing agent specially made for this purpose.

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Titanium casting
On a study that compares the characteristics of Ti and Cr-Co:

1- Cr-Co framework is 1.7 times heavier than Ti framework, not significant

2- Internal porosity is almost the same
3- Surface roughness of Ti is more than that of Cr-Co

Desirable characteristics of titanium framework:

1- Biocompatibility
2- High ductility
3- Adequate hardness
4- Excellent corrosion resistance
5- Light weight (its atomic weight is 47.90, which is half of the weight of other nonprecious metals used in
dentistry and ¼ the atomic weight of gold)

Titanium casting drawbacks:

1- High melting point (up to 1720 C / 3646 F)

2- High reactivity (chemical reactivity with elements in the investment which produces a hard brittle
reaction layer on the cast surface
This layer can be removed by either, chemical treatment, air abrasion or rotary instruments. However,
rotary instruments may compromise the fit of the framework so the first two options are preferred).
3- Porosity (if the thickness of the sprue and wax pattern or the casting metal amount are inadequate)
4- Takes long time to cast
5- High initial cost

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Flexible denture fabrication
Thermoplastic resins have been used in dental medicine for fifty years. In the meantime, their use has spread
due to their superior characteristics. Their ongoing development has yielded new classes of more and more
advanced materials and technologies, which make possible the manufacturing of dentures with better splinting
properties then traditional dentures.

1- Thermoplastic acetal

Thermoplastic acetal is a poly(oxy-methylene)-based material, which as a homopolymer has good short-term

mechanical properties, but as a copolymer has better long-term stability

1- Good short-term mech. Properties

2- Long-term stability

3- Very strong

4- Resists wear and fracturing (well suited for maintaining vertical dimension during provisional restorative
therapy)

5- Flexible, which makes it an ideal material for pre-formed clasps for partial dentures, single pressed
unilateral partial dentures, partial denture frameworks, provisional bridges, occlusal splints and implant
abutments, partial denture frameworks, artificial teeth for removable dentures, orthodontic appliances

Acetal does not have the natural translucency and esthetic appearance of thermoplastic acrylic and
polycarbonate

2- Thermoplastic polyamide (nylon)

Thermoplastic nylon is a polyamidic resin derived from diamine and dibasic acid monomers. Nylon is a versatile
material, suitable for a broad range of applications.

1- Semi translucent

2- High flexibility

3- Physical strength

4- Heat & chemical resistance

5- Excellent balance of strength ductility and heat

They are used primarily for tissue supported removable dentures because
their stiffness makes them unsuitable for usage as occlusal rests or denture
parts that need to be rigid. Because of its flexibility, it can’t maintain vertical
dimension when used in direct occlusal forces. Nylon is a little more difficult to adjust and polish.

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Presentation form and injection

Thermoplastic materials can be polymerised or prepolymerised and they can be found in granular form, with low
molecular weight, already wrapped in cartridges which eliminates dosage errors.

They have a low plasticizing temperature and exhibit a high rigidity in spite of their low molecular weight. Their
plasticizing temperature is 200-250°C.

After thermal plasticization in special devices, the material is injected under pressure into a mold, without any
chemical reactions. The metallic cartridges containing thermoplastic grains are heated to plasticize the resin. The
cartridges are set in place into the injecting unit and pressure of 6-8 barrs is used to force the plasticized resin to
fill the mold. Pressure, temperature and injecting time are automatically controlled by the injecting unit. This
results in compact dentures with excellent esthetics and good compatibility. Injecting thermoplastic resins into
molds is not a common technology in dental laboratories because the need of expensive equipment and this
could be a disadvantage.

Wax pattern manufacturing

The wax pattern of the removable partial denture is manufactured following the profiles imprinted on the
model, the wax pattern of the main connector, made of red wax (so that it’s thickness is twice as normal), the
wax pattern of the saddles and the wax pattern of the Ackers circular clasps, made of blue wax.

Injection bars are required for the sensitive areas of the framework that are placed on the areas that are not
visible in the finite piece. A large central shaft is also necessary in order to connect with the main connector,
through which the initial injection takes place. Unlike the pattern of a metallic framework, the patterns of the
clasps, occlusal rests (for acetal type because the polyamide ones don’t have rests) and lingual bar were made
50% thicker.

Because the wax pattern of the metal-free framework has to be 50% thicker than that of a metallic framework,
pink wax is used for wax-up. In order to produce patterns of the saddles, wax plates were adapted on the cast
according to the hallmarks and circular retentive holes were cut along them.

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Investing the wax pattern

Spruing the framework was performed using five minor sprues of 2.5 mm calibrated wax connected to one
major sprue.

After surface-tension reducing solution is applied to the wax pattern, it is invested in a vaseline insulated
aluminum flask. Class III hard stone is used as investment.

When the investment is set, the gypsum surface is insulated and the second half of the flask is assembled.

After the gypsum sets the flask is submerged in warm water in a thermostatic container. The two halves of the
flask are than disassembled and the wax is boiled out using clean hot water. The mold is then insulated using a
special agent which is applied in a single layer on the gypsum surface. The surface of the mold is given a shining
aspect by treating the gypsum surface with light curing transparent varnish.

Injection of the thermoplastic resin framework

Injection is carried out with the R-3C (Flexite) injector, which does not take up much space as it can be mounted
on a wall as well. The device has the following parameters: digital control, preset programmes, Proguard and
programmes that can be individually set by the user. The pressure developed is 6-8 barrs.

Before the injection procedure, the valves of carbon dioxide tank are checked to make sure the injecting
pressure was according to procedure demands (7.2-7.5 barrs).

Preheating temperature and time are also checked (15 minutes at 220°C). The corresponding cartridge of
injecting material (quantity and color) is selected.

The cartridge is introduced into one of the two heating cylinders after a vaseline base lubricant has been applied
at its closed end - Fig. 10 b. The cartridge membrane is pointed to the flask chamber.

The flask is inserted and secured in the corresponding place of the injecting unit. The opening of the flask is set
in a straight line with the heating cylinder and cartridge.

The heating cylinder containing the material cartridge is brought near the flask and the injecting procedure is
initiated by pressing the key on the control panel. The injection process takes 0.25 seconds. The pressure is
automatically kept constant for one minute so that setting contraction is compensated.

Disassembling and finishing

Before investment removal, screws are loosened and the flask is gently disassembled. The stone blocking the
vents in the upper side of the flask are removed using a hook and a mallet

The sprues are cut off using low-pressure carbide and diamond burs to avoid overheating the material. Finishing
and polishing was performed using soft brushes, ragwheel and polishing paste

Disassembling the frame of the future removable partial denture is followed by matching it to the model,
processing and finishing this component of the framework denture

Errors in manufacturing thermoplastic resins dentures Errors might occur when manufacturing thermoplastic
resins dentures: the insufficient pressure at injection, which leads to lack of substance, poor polishing or too
thick saddles being some of the causes

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CAD-CAM-fabricated removable partial dentures

Since the conventional fabrication of removable partial dentures (RPDs) is a complex, error-prone, time-
consuming, and expensive process. The use of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-
CAM) techniques, especially rapid prototyping, promises a more effective method for fabricating RPD
frameworks.

The CAD-CAM technique is suitable for producing removable partial dentures with a clinically acceptable fit. The
CAD process provides accurate data acquisition and processing. The CAM process milling techniques showed a
similar or even better fit than conventional fabrication techniques. However, rapid prototyping techniques need
to be improved with refinement of the technical parameters to generate similarly good results.

The current trend is to shift away from traditional industry methods of production to a digital platform wherever
possible. The digital process has evolved and easily eliminates multiple time-consuming steps to create perfect
fitting, esthetic, and functional restorations. Expertise provided by highly respected companies like 3D Systems
Corp. and 3Shape has enabled Dental Lab to fine-tune the scanning, designing, printing, investing, and casting of
RPDs with a completely digital process.

The entire RPD design can be completed on the software (like 3Shape) (CAD) and then sent to the
printing/milling machine (CAM). Designing can be semi-digital (printing a was pattern then conventional casting
is held) or Digital printing the metal framework.

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Fitting the framework

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