Setting Denture Teeth

[Doc Smile]

Any advice to make setting denture teeth a little less excruciating?

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[The Hammer]

Have a good lab do it for you LOL

OK setting teeth is tedious at its best but a helpful tip is to use a clear glass slab for your occlusal plane guide (instead of that square of aluminum). The cool thing about a glass slab is you can see what teeth are occluding and which teeth aren't. This is especially helpful if you are doing a lingualized occlusion

 

[lemoncurry]

one tip is instead of setting all the teeth of one arch first and then setting the other arch to articulate with it, set the mandibular tooth on the ridge as you would normally, and then set the opposing tooth and get the occlusion right with those two before moving on to the next tooth back and repeating the process.

 

[madmonkeydds]

Spending evenings in the lab with my classmates, eating pizza, listening to music, and doing removable was one of my favorite parts of dental school. What kind of advice would you like?

 

[Mackchops]

Instead of grinding your teeth into little nubbins when occlusal distance is small, you can make a window through your record base (staying away from your excrutiatingly molded border!) and use wax against tin foil on your master cast.

Also, never underestimate the power of a good wax rim!

 

[ogopogodude]

the real nice thing about once getting your degree (DMD or DDS) is that you will never have to touch a denture again. I hate dentures. They stink. The smell of the acrylic when u adjust a denture, stinks. I went into dental school to work on patients WITH teeth not, ... without teeth. My post has nothing to do with your question but just to let you know that there is a lite at the end of the tunnel, ... it is called graduating, ... then do what ever you want that appeals to you in dentistry. For example, ... I refer ALL molar wisdom teeth out to the endodontist.... why? ... because i love having zero stress and i can fill my day with doing easy occlusal fillings all day.

 

[Doc Smile]

one tip is instead of setting all the teeth of one arch first and then setting the other arch to articulate with it, set the mandibular tooth on the ridge as you would normally, and then set the opposing tooth and get the occlusion right with those two before moving on to the next tooth back and repeating the process.

That is the way they teach us how to do it at IUSD. It is my understanding that there are 2 ways that most schools set teeth: 1) set all the ant teeth, set each arch of posterior teeth then adjust, and, 2) Set all the ant teeth, set the mand premolars, set opposing maxillary premolar, set mand 1st molar, set opposing maxillary 2nd premolar, set mand 2nd molar, finish setting maxillary teeth. At IUSD we do the latter and I think it ends up with a LOT less adjusting in the end.

Spending evenings in the lab with my classmates, eating pizza, listening to music, and doing removable was one of my favorite parts of dental school. What kind of advice would you like?

Don't get me wrong, I like lab, and shooting the **** with my homies down there. But staying in lab till 10 M-F sucks

Instead of grinding your teeth into little nubbins when occlusal distance is small, you can make a window through your record base (staying away from your excrutiatingly molded border!) and use wax against tin foil on your master cast.

Also, never underestimate the power of a good wax rim!

Thanks for the tip. I had to do this on both my maxillary canines. They never taught us this, nor suggested it, so I read the book and found out how to do it there.

the real nice thing about once getting your degree (DMD or DDS) is that you will never have to touch a denture again. I hate dentures. They stink. The smell of the acrylic when u adjust a denture, stinks. I went into dental school to work on patients WITH teeth not, ... without teeth. My post has nothing to do with your question but just to let you know that there is a lite at the end of the tunnel, ... it is called graduating, ... then do what ever you want that appeals to you in dentistry. For example, ... I refer ALL molar wisdom teeth out to the endodontist.... why? ... because i love having zero stress and i can fill my day with doing easy occlusal fillings all day.

What if I want to do prosth.... I don't, jeesh I almost threw up typing that. No offense to all the prosth docs out there, just not my cup of tea.


Anyway, thank you for the advice. I have my teeth all set and looking pretty spiffy. Turns out that it is just a lot of work, a lot of patience, and having the experience to know how to adjust the individual teeth to get all your working contacts without ripping out the whole arch. Once you get the hang of it, it really isn't that bad.

 

[flapaTron]

one tip is instead of setting all the teeth of one arch first and then setting the other arch to articulate with it, set the mandibular tooth on the ridge as you would normally, and then set the opposing tooth and get the occlusion right with those two before moving on to the next tooth back and repeating the process.

this is exactly i how i do it. i looked like a noob before someone recommended this.

 

[hoopes03]

Does anyone know what dental schools require you to set teeth in lab/clinic? I know UMKC, Casewestern, and UOP do. Perhaps a better question, which schools DO NOT require you to set denture teeth?

 

[Shunwei]

Any advice to make setting denture teeth a little less excruciating?

Setting denture teeth was probably some of the most painful and time-consuming lab work I had in school. My two rare overnights spent in school were both spent working on dentures. Setting them up, waxing, contouring, checking the CO and excursives over and over again on my Stratos, repeating every cycle after you move a tooth. It was extremely painful.

However, I will say this though. The very amount of time spent certainly taught me a lot not only about dentures but also concepts about aesthetics, because the underlying symmetry, ratio, and occlusion ideas can be translated to a lot of things. Of course after you start working you can choose to never set another tooth (like what I am doing), but the knowledge is important. Just grit your teeth and keep hacking away, because it is worth it,