• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.64-71
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• 2019

Retromolar pad is one of anatomical landmarks to use clinically for determining of specific occlusal plane level in edentulous patients and is inherently a soft tissue mass; located at the distal end of mandible and should be covered with denture. The shapes of retromolar pad show variability because it might be inevitable to be resultant forms from healing and remodeling process after the extraction of last molars. Considerations would be focused on those resultant shapes and classification with anatomical relationships and clinical significances.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.18-25
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• 2023

We present the case of a 65-year-old man with maxillary and mandibular complete dentures prepared using neutral zone technique after undergoing mandibulotomy due to tonsil cancer 10 years ago. The patient had a short edentulous period; hence, there was minimal absorption of the alveolar ridge and no abnormality in the motor function of the tongue. However, the retromolar pad was located inside the hamular notch, and the posterior alveolar ridge was relatively turned inward. If the artificial teeth would have been aligned conventionally, the functional space of the tongue would have been invaded, which would have moved the tongue posteriorly thereby reducing the stability of the denture. Therefore, applying the concept of the neutral zone can be a good reference point in such cases. The neutral zone was registered using tissue conditioner, and tooth alignment was performed by making a silicone putty index. The biggest advantage of using neutral zone concept is denture stability. In this case, the neutral zone technique was applied to obtain the lingual alignment limit of the posterior teeth to avoid invasion of the tongue space by the left posterior part of the mandible. Particularly, in case of a patient in which denture stability is difficult to obtain due to absorption of the alveolar ridge, it is believed that better results can be obtained using neutral zone technique.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2021

Purpose: Generally, patients are noticed to store denture in water when removed from the mouth. However, few studies have reported the advantage of volumetric change in underwater storage over dry storage. To be a reference in defining the proper denture storage method, this study aims to evaluate the volumetric change and dimensional deformation in case of underwater and dry storage. Materials and methods: Definitive casts were scanned by a model scanner, and denture bases were designed with computer-aided design (CAD) software. Twelve denture bases (upper 6, lower 6) were printed with 3D printer. Printed denture bases were invested and flasked with heat-curing method. 6 upper and 6 lower dentures were divided into group A and B, and each group contains 3 upper and 3 lower dentures. Group A was stored dry at room temperature, group B was stored underwater. Group B was scanned at every 24 hours for 28 days and scanned data was saved as stereolithography (SLA) file. These SLA files were analyzed to measure the difference in volumetric change of a month and Kruskal-Wallis test were used for statistical analysis. Best-fit algorithm was used to overlap and 3-dimensional color-coded map was used to observe the changing pattern of impression surface. Results: No significant difference was found in volumetric changes regardless of the storage methods. In dry-stored denture base, significant changes were found in the palate of upper jaw and posterior lingual border of lower jaw in direction away from the underlying tissue, maxillary tuberosity of upper jaw and retromolar pad area of lower jaw in direction towards the underlying tissue. Conclusion: Storing the denture underwater shows less volumetric change of impression surface than storing in the dry air.