How can the loading to the underlying tissues be reduced for a removable partial denture? Explain why this may be necessary.

How can the loading to the underlying tissues be reduced for a removable partial denture? Explain why this may be necessary.

1. - The aim of all prostheses is to distribute applied forces equally, over as large a denture bearing area as is practicable.

   • - This may be necessary if the patient has healthy remaining dentition, to reduce the risk of resorption of the mucosa and bone.

2. - To reduce the load transferred to the underlying bone (and in turn reduce accelerated resorption) the occlusal surface tooth area should be small and the denture base fitting area should be large.

3. - Denture bearing areas should cover the largest area practicable, so that pressure falling on any unit area of the edentulous ridge is reduced under horizontal and/or vertical loading.

4. - The loading to the underlying tissues can also be reduced by incorporating tooth borne or a combination of tooth and mucosa borne support instead of just mucosa borne support.

   • - Tooth borne support utilises rests on abutment teeth and forces are distributed down via the periodontal ligament.
   • A combination of tooth and mucosa borne support have tensile and compressive loading via both the periodontal ligament and mucosa

5. - This may be achieved by adding occlusal rests, cingulum rests, embrasure hooks, continuous rests or lingual plates.

6. - Narrower the teeth, the less pressure they exert on the denture and underlying tissues.