The Effect of Different Occlusal Schemes on Masticatory Performance for Conventional and Digital Complete Dentures

Aim: to evaluate effect of different schemes of occlusion; bilateral balanced occlusion (BBO) and lingualized occlusion (LO) of conventional and digital (3D printing) complete dentures on masticatory performance (efficiency). Subjects and Methods : Ten completely edentulous patients were selected randomly. Then received a complete conventional and digital (3D printing) denture with BBO. After three months, all patients were recalled for recording mean values of masticatory efficiency that was evaluated by assessing the chewing time and number of strokes until first swallow and until clearance of the mouth from food using different types of food (carrot, apple and banana). The occlusal schemes were interchanged to LO schemes on the patients’ denture bases, reinserted in the mouth with resting period three weeks between occlusal schemes. Then, masticatory efficiency measurements were recorded as mentioned before. One way ANOVA was used for comparison of the different dentures followed by Tukey HSD post hoc test used to compare between every two dentures. The significance level was set at P-value ≤ 0.05. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM® SPSS® Statistics Version 20 for Windows. Results: The results showed no significant difference in masticatory performance between different occlusal schemes or between conventional and 3D printing dentures and the patients were satisfied by the masticatory function when eating different types of food. Conclusion: BBO as LO penetrated the food polus well and provide more stability and favorable stress distribution in parafunctional and excursive movements. However, 3D printing dentures with BBO were somewhat better than other dentures