Finished and polished partial dentures: a new process for guaranteed quality and repeatability

Dental laboratories are characterised by a natural tendency to immediately adapt to practitioners’ needs in order to create prostheses tailored to suit a specific patient.

A centre like Proxera, which produces semi-finished products for dental technicians, on the other hand, finds it natural to guarantee a repeatable, consistent result regardless of the type of processing or production volumes.

A service is not offered and included in the price list until it is possible to formalise a precise workflow —starting from the online file-upload platform connected to the production department - and at the same time ensure, except for any errors due to non-conformities, a consistent result that allows the technician to complete the work simply and effectively.

A new process for polishing partial dentures while maintaining even the smallest detail

We have completely revolutionised the partial denture finishing and polishing process by testing different approaches to identify a scalable, replicable solution that is perfectly adaptable to any quantity and variety of semi-finished products.

Before machining, we incorporate a number of specific precautions into the work order so that the electrolytic polishing that is carried out is able to maintain every last feature and detail designed in the CAD process.

This makes it possible to maintain the roughness of the palate and the perfect fit of the clasp in the undercut areas, in order to minimise the need for clasp activation and consequently improve patient comfort.

The aim is to provide a practically finished partial denture, meaning that all the dental technician has to do is fit the denture and send it to the clinician.

Anatomical polished clasps that rival the performance of cast products

The same process and the same precautions in pre-production and electrolytic polishing can be applied not only to the complete partial prosthesis but also to the simpler anatomical retentive clasps.

To differentiate and increase the perceived value of a retentive clasp, we usually replace the simple steel wire with an anatomical solution obtained by melting.

Although laser melting has the same characteristics as casting, it simplifies both design and production by one order of magnitude, allowing the laboratory to create a complete prosthesis that is perceived by the practitioner as the result of even greater professional skill.

The differences between a finished partial denture and a finished and polished one

Polished dentures obtained by laser melting are supplied in the final form, exactly as indicated in the design specifications of the .stl file: they have an optimal fit on the plaster model and require very little or no clasp activation.

The unfinished semi-finished product that has not, therefore, been treated in the electrolytic bath, maintains a perfect fit but can be more rigid and consequently generate greater friction on the teeth: except for extremely special cases, we always recommend choosing the polished version.

Polished partial dentures maintain the same characteristics as cast products and, therefore, there is nothing to stop the dental technician from increasing their brightness using specific polishing pastes and wool brushes, if necessary.

Proxera has invested, and continues to invest, not only in latest-generation equipment, but also in fine-tuning its production and quality assurance processes with a view to making it a reliable partner for dental laboratories of any size.