Oral diagnosis and treatment planning: part 7. Treatment planning for missing teeth.

Although more people are retaining increasing numbers of their natural teeth into older ages, approximately 30-40% of persons over the age of 75 years in Western countries are edentulous. The causes and significance of tooth loss vary widely among individuals and cultures, and missing teeth may be replaced by a variety of means for functional, social and psychological reasons, rather than for significant physical health benefits. Therefore, it is essential to determine what the loss of teeth means to patients and what their expectations are for the outcomes following tooth replacement by various methods.

Attachment of Candida albicans to denture base acrylic resin processed by three different methods.

Denture stomatitis is a debilitating disease associated with the presence of adherent Candida albicans. This study compared the attachment capacity of C. albicans to three different acrylic resin materials (self-curing [SC], conventional pressure-packed [CPP], and injection-molded [IM]) to determine whether the physical properties of the materials influenced candidal attachment.

Understanding prosthodontics--where did it all go wrong?

This paper addresses the anatomical and physiological effects of tooth loss on the patient and, further, audits the teaching of prosthodontics over the last 30 years. There is an abundance of evidence to outline changes that occur post-extraction related to morphological changes in the maxilla, the mandible and combined changes in inter-maxillary relations. In addition to the knowledge of patterns of bone loss, we are also now well aware that there is evidence to suggest that planned retention of roots and/or the placement of implants can help reduce post-extraction bone loss.

Gender aesthetics in the natural dentition.

This paper questions whether the size, position and angulation of upper anterior teeth 'reflect' the gender of a patient. Forty-six casts of natural teeth were given to 11 experts. The experts were asked to assess the gender of the patients.