1. Prosthetic dental medicine – subject. Orofacial complex. Maxillofacial region and masticatory system.
Introduces prosthetic dental medicine as the study, prevention and prosthetic treatment of lasting changes to the dental arches and maxillofacial region. Covers the masticatory system's five sections, the orofacial complex with a function table, the purposes of dental prostheses, and a fixed versus removable comparison table. Ends with a brief look at the evolutionary history of the masticatory system.
Topic 1 of 75 in the MU Sofia syllabus for Preclinics of Dental Prosthetics (Dental Medicine, Year 2). The free AceMed note covers it in 6 sections, about 412 words (4 min of reading), with 13 flashcards.
In this note
Introduction
What the subject treats
The masticatory system
The orofacial complex and the maxillofacial region
What a prosthesis does
A short look back
Introduction
Prosthetic dental medicine deals with lasting changes in the dental arches and the maxillofacial region that disturb chewing, speech or appearance. It studies these changes, works to prevent them and treats them with prostheses: artificial devices made individually for each patient.
What the subject treats
The changes are permanent, so they can't heal by themselves. Typical examples:
Loss of hard tooth tissue from caries or a fracture
Loss of one tooth, several teeth or all of them (complete edentulism)
Congenital deformities of the jaws
Acquired defects of the jaws and face, most often after tumour surgery
The masticatory system
Chewing is not the work of the teeth alone. The masticatory system is a set of separate organs and tissues of the maxillofacial region that work as one unit, and when it is fully formed it has five sections.
A prosthesis replaces part of the supporting section, but it has to fit the other four: the muscles that move it, the saliva that wets it, the nerves that sense it and the soft tissues that cover and border it.
Continue reading free
The whole note, all 6 sections, is free with an AceMed account, with its 13 flashcards. Premium adds flashcard recall, highlights and Ask AI.
