Occlusal aspects of CAD/CAM fabricated complete dentures

Fully digital computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) complete denture fabrication systems are currently marketed by four providers: Global Dental Science (AvaDent), Merz Dental (Baltic Denture System), Ivoclar Vivadent/Wieland Dental (Wieland Digital Dentures), and Whole You (Whole You Nexteeth). Both the clinical adaptation protocols and technical production steps vary from one system to another. Each system has its own workflows for occlusal plane determination and bite registration. Therefore, both the clinician and the dental technician must overcome an initial learning curve before CAD/CAM denture systems become more efficient than conventional dentures. The current standard occlusal concept for CAD/CAM complete dentures is the bilaterally balanced occlusion, but anterior/canine-guided occlusion can also be achieved by individualizing the specified tooth position. Since neither the clinical adjustment steps nor the technical finalization steps for CAD/CAM complete dentures are fully controllable yet, they are still not superior to remounted conventional complete dentures in terms of occlusal quality. For this reason, denture remounting must also be recommended for CAD/CAM fabricated dentures. Parole chiave: CAD/CAM dentures, complete dentures, occlusion, remounting