Covers how complete dentures are made with CAD/CAM, from digital or conventional impressions and jaw relation records through design, try-in, and milling or 3D printing. A step-by-step table sets out the six stages, and a comparison table sets digital dentures against conventional flask-processed ones on visits, base material, fit, spares, tooth choice and cost. The note closes with a list of current limits, such as difficulty recording movable tissues and the reduced freedom in tooth characterisation.
Topic 75 of 75 in the MU Sofia syllabus for Preclinics of Dental Prosthetics (Dental Medicine, Year 2). The free AceMed note covers it in 4 sections, about 104 words (2 min of reading), with 14 flashcards.
In this note
Introduction
Workflow
Comparison with conventional dentures
Limits
Introduction
CAD/CAM has reached complete dentures too. Instead of waxing, flasking and heat-curing, the denture is designed on screen and milled from a pre-polymerized block or 3D-printed. The clinical steps are fewer, but the principles of impressions, jaw relations and tooth arrangement stay the same.
Limits
Recording movable tissues and the functional border shape digitally is still difficult.
Less freedom for individual characterization of teeth and gingiva, unless finished by hand.
Printed resins may be weaker and less colour-stable than milled ones.
The digital denture is still built on the same foundations: a correct impression, correct jaw relations, teeth in the neutral zone and balanced occlusion.
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