Digital removable partial dentures

Abstract

Recently, digital techniques have revolutionized the production of partial removable dental prostheses (PRDPs). This chapter reviews current systems for PRDP production, how they are done in clinical practice, advantages and limitations, and current literature regarding their clinical performance. Currently, several digital techniques are available in the market for PRDP production including subtractive and additive techniques. Subtractive milling technique is mainly effective for non-metal PRDP, whereas additive techniques are used mainly in metal PRDP. Digital techniques expand the range of materials that can be utilized for PRDP production, including new polymers (PEEK), and facilitate previously difficult procedures such as casting titanium PRDP, which can be produced more easily with digital methods. This review shows that available evidence suggests that these techniques have promising clinical results. Laser sintering resulted in higher patient’s satisfaction compared to conventional PRDP. However, long-term clinical trials are recommended to explore the long-term effects of these techniques. Moreover, this review showed the lack of evidence on the clinical performance of non-metal partial removable dental prostheses.