Polyoxymethylene (POM) in the Production of Telescopic Denture in Older Adults With Subtotal Edentulism

The mail goal of this study is to evaluate the success of the prosthetic treatment with telescopic removable partial denture with framework made of polyoxymethylene (POM). In accordance with the growing older population, who often require complex dental care, it is very important to test simple yet effective and safe solutions. Bearing in mind that POM has proven to be a good solution for conventional removable partial dentures with clasps (RPD), and that it is quite common to have 2-3 remaining teeth, a denture with a framework made of light and flexible material such as POM present a good solution. The hypothesis is that a POM telescopic denture is clinically as adequate, effective and safe as the conventional complex cobalt chromium molybdenum alloy denture with clasps. Telescopic denture should provide better comfort and longevity compared to conventional RPD because of axial loading of the abutment teeth and no negative biological effect of clasps. Moreover, conventional telescopic denture is made of precious alloys which increase their cost; therefore, POM telescopic denture present great advantage in cost/effective treatment. Telescopic crowns are comprised of inner and outer crowns; accordingly, telescopic denture represent a type of complex denture where one part is fixed on the remaining teeth (inner crowns) and other part (outer crowns and denture framework) is removable.

The key factors that will define the success of the treatment will be: assessment of dentures' retention, oral health related quality of life, presence of biological complications, presence of mechanical complications, denture appearance and chewing function assessment.