On Functional Strain in Fixed and Removable Partial Dentures: An experimental in vivo study

Abstract

Three rosette strain gauges were attached to a fixed bilateral cantilevered crossarch maxillary bridge and one linear strain gauge to an attachment-retained removable partial denture (RPD), to study the functional deformation pattern in this combined reconstruction. The deformation under clinical conditions at maximum habitual biting and at maximum unilateral loading was very complex, with both elongation and contraction in different parts of the fixed reconstruction. Even though this complexity in the functional deformation was found both with and without the RPD incorporated, the RPD seemed to provide a more even and favorable distribution of the masticatory forces in the fixed reconstruction.