New method cuts time and error rate in making dentures

Smart tech used to improve fitting accuracy, reducing manpower and visits by patients

- Judith Tan

Judith Tan Correspondent Retired nurse Lim Soon Lian, 65, has been wearing dentures since she was 18.

"I fell in school and lost my two front teeth. It was so bad that my jaw was swollen. It was not very nice for a young woman without her front teeth, so I had partial dentures made," she said.

Unlike full dentures, which replace all the teeth in the upper or lower jaw, partial dentures replace just some teeth.

But Madam Lim's old dentures were a bane - uncomfortable and causing pain whenever she ate. So, when she had to extract two teeth in November 2023, she wanted new dentures made as well.

Dr Phang Zi Ying, her dentist at the National Dental Centre Singapore (NDCS), persuaded her to participate in a clinical trial, where a new smart digital method is used to make metal-based removable partial dentures (RPDs).

These dentures have a metal framework that holds the artificial teeth in place and attaches to the patient's natural teeth.

The conventional method of creating such dentures entails casting the metal manually, which is labour-intensive and requires four visits by the patient, before a fifth visit for the final fitting.