Overdenture-A step ahead in Preventive Prosthodontics: A Clinical Report

The prosthetic management of the edentulous patient has been a major challenge since long. Complete maxillary and mandibular dentures have been the traditional standards of care. However, most of the patients report with problem of adapting to their mandibular denture due to lack of comfort, retention, stability and inability to masticate. Tooth-supported over dentures have been a common treatment modality for edentulous patients for the past 20 years and has predictably achieve good clinical results. Tooth supported over dentures offer many practical advantages including decreased bone resorption, reduced prosthesis movement, better esthetics, improved tooth position, better occlusion, improved functional efficiency and maintenance of the occlusal vertical dimension. This article presents the fabrication technique for a tooth-supported over denture with ball and socket attachments on retained mandibular teeth.