Dentures, reference dentures and method for making dentures

Abstract

To provide a denture including a material member consisting of a standard denture as a component, and being fabricated with higher total efficiency including adjustment by pre-checking and grinding without degrading individual patient fitness.SOLUTION: A denture 1 is formed by fixing an artificial tooth 31 to a denture base 2, the denture base 2 includes a standard denture base member 4 and an adjustment member 6 made of a hardened body of a hardening denture base material to be joined thereto, and the denture base 2 has a central area 2A1 having a mucosal surface covering a mucous membrane of an alveolar ridge top area in a patient's mouth, and a front area 2A1 and a rear area 2A3, the areas front and rear thereof. The adjustment member 6 includes a central adjustment member 6A1, a front adjustment member 6A2, and a rear adjustment member 6A3, respectively constituting at least a part of the mucosal surfaces of the respective areas of the denture base 2, and at least parts of the base edge-side tip area in the front area and the rear area are respectively comprised of the front adjustment member 6A2 and the rear adjustment member 6A3.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a denture, a reference denture and a method for making a denture. [Background technology]

[0002] The demand for dentures has increased in recent years due to the rapid aging of the population. Normally, dentures are made by hand, one by one, with careful adjustments to fit the shape of the patient's mouth.

[0003] As a technique for producing dentures while reducing the above-mentioned manual labor, a technique using a standard denture is known (see Patent Documents 1 to 3). With regard to such a technique, Patent Document 1 describes "a denture production set comprising a combination of a previously prepared standard denture base, a polymerizable resin composition applied to the surface of the denture base that comes into contact with the oral cavity, an artificial tooth having a recess in the apex (occlusal surface) into which the polymerizable resin composition is to be filled, and a polymerizable resin composition to be filled into the recess in the artificial tooth." The example in Patent Document 1 states that "the occlusal surface of a commercially available artificial tooth was cylindrically removed by 1 to 3 mm using a drill, and an artificial tooth with a recess for adding polymerizable resin on the occlusal surface side was prepared. A wax denture was prepared from an edentulous full-jaw model for teaching practice in the usual manner, and one layer of the portion that contacts the mucosa was removed (in the case of the upper jaw, the entire palate base portion). The artificial teeth were extracted, and a mold made from the original model of the reference denture base was used to compression mold a copolymer resin of methyl methacrylate and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (75:25) to prepare the gum portion of the denture base. The commercially available artificial teeth were arranged in the anterior teeth portion and the upper molar portion, and the artificial teeth with the recess of the present invention were arranged in the mandibular molar portion to prepare the reference denture base. In addition, a 0.5 mm thick plate of the above copolymer was heated and softened, and pressed into a mold in the shape of the palate portion to determine the shape, to prepare a part for the palate portion."

[0004] Patent Document 2 also discloses a reference denture base having a specific planar shape determined based on the oral cavity shapes of edentulous and edentulous patients. Specifically, Patent Document 2 discloses a reference denture base having a shape in which the length of a line segment connecting a first reference point corresponding to the left pterygomaxillary notch and left retromolar eminence at the posterior edge of the denture base and a second reference point corresponding to the right pterygomaxillary notch and right retromolar eminence is set as the reference length, and the lengths from a plurality of points determined at predetermined positions on two reference line segments connecting the first reference point and the second reference point, respectively, to the denture base edge, respectively, to the denture base edge are each set in a predetermined range with respect to the reference length. Furthermore, Patent Document 2 discloses that a denture that matches the oral cavity shape of an individual patient can be obtained by arranging artificial teeth on the reference denture base to form a reference denture, building up a lining material on the reference denture base, and then trying it in the oral cavity of an individual patient and adjusting the occlusion.

[0005] Furthermore, Patent Document 3 discloses a jig for aligning a reference denture. This jig is for locating a reference denture at an appropriate position in the patient's mouth, etc., and has a reference denture holding part for holding the reference denture. With the reference denture held in the reference denture holding part, the reference denture can be guided into the mouth or to an articulator to which upper and lower edentulous jaw models are fixed, thereby aligning the reference denture. Patent Document 3 also discloses a denture fabrication method characterized by building up a lining material on the inner surface side of the reference denture, and then imprinting a shape on the lining material built up on the reference denture. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 3449733 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 6294706 [Patent Document 3] WO2018 / 207867 publication Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] As mentioned above, Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose a technology based on the concept of piling a lining material on the mucosal surface (base surface) of a reference denture base consisting of a ready-made complete denture base, pressing it against the mucosa in the patient's oral cavity, and achieving a good fit. Patent Document 2 also describes the advantages of using a reference denture (base), specifically, that the reference denture (base) can be easily adapted to the shape of the patient's oral cavity by simply piling up a lining material on the reference denture (base), thereby shortening the time required to make the denture. Patent Document 2 also describes that by making the reference denture (base) into the specific planar shape described above, the compatibility rate for many patients can be made as high as, for example, 90%, and that the advantage of using the reference denture (base) described above can be obtained in many cases by simply selecting a size that fits the size of the patient's oral cavity.

[0008] However, as will be described below, it cannot be said that a method has been established for efficiently fabricating dentures that fit individual patients using a reference denture base or reference dentures. That is, the reference denture base disclosed in Patent Document 1 is only one fabricated using an edentulous full-jaw model for teaching practice, and there is no description of its specific shape. Furthermore, Patent Document 1 does not disclose detailed procedures for fabricating dentures using the above-mentioned reference denture base.

[0009] Furthermore, in Patent Document 2, the manufacturing procedure before building up the lining material on the reference denture base or reference denture is described only to select one that fits the patient's mouth size, and the details are unclear. The reference denture (or reference denture base) is a material part for manufacturing a denture (or denture base), and means a prefabricated denture-like (denture base-like) part having a predetermined shape in which the denture base-equivalent part is slightly smaller (thinner or narrower in area) than the denture (or denture base) to be manufactured. For such a reference denture (or reference denture base), it is possible to prepare several sizes (for example, S size, M size, L size, etc.) so that they can be applied to the mouth size of a standard patient, but the number of sizes is not so large. Therefore, even if it is determined that the size is usable, it is necessary to actually try it on to confirm the compatibility.

[0010] Specifically, a simple pre-check is generally performed by inserting a reference denture for the upper jaw (a reference denture for the upper jaw) and / or a reference denture for the lower jaw (a reference denture for the lower jaw) into the patient's oral cavity so that a proper occlusion state is maintained, and checking for the presence or absence of any part that may cause pain when worn for a long period of time (a manner of contact; hereinafter, also referred to as "inappropriate contact") against the mucous membrane, etc. Then, at the pre-check stage, it may be found that adjustment by grinding is necessary, and in such a case, pre-adjustment must be performed by grinding using a handy grinding machine or the like. Such pre-adjustment not only requires equipment such as a handy grinding machine, but also requires measures against dust generation if the amount of grinding is large, and furthermore, depending on the grinding technique of the worker, it may lead to a significant increase in the denture preparation time. However, in Patent Document 2, such pre-check and adjustment by grinding are not particularly considered.

[0011] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and aims to achieve at least one of the following first to third objects. The first object is to provide a denture that includes, as a component, material members made of a reference denture, which is considered to enable efficient production of dentures that fit individual patients, and that can be produced with higher overall efficiency, including advance checks and adjustments by grinding, without compromising the fit to individual patients. A second objective is to provide a reference denture that can be used as a material component for dentures, and that can significantly reduce the incidence of cases in which adjustment by grinding is required through pre-checking. A third object is to provide a method for efficiently producing a denture that achieves the first object. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a denture having artificial teeth fixed to a denture base, the denture base having a reference denture base member to which the artificial teeth are fixed, and an adjusting member made of a hardened body of a hardenable denture base material, the adjusting member being joined to the reference denture base member, and when the denture is worn in a patient's oral cavity, the direction of the denture that faces the lips is defined as the "front", the direction of the denture that faces the throat is defined as the "rear", the side that faces the alveolar ridge mucosa in the patient's oral cavity is defined as the "mucosal side", the surface of the denture base and the reference denture base member that faces the mucosa is defined as the "mucosal surface", the surface opposite to this is defined as the "polished surface", and the boundary between the mucosal surface and the polished surface is defined as the "base edge", the denture base has a central region having a mucosal surface covering the mucosa of an alveolar ridge crest region in the patient's oral cavity, and a surface anterior to the alveolar ridge crest region. The present invention provides a denture having a front region having a mucosal surface covering the mucosa in the patient's mouth, and a rear region having a mucosal surface covering the mucosa in the patient's mouth posterior to the alveolar ridge crest region, the reference denture base member having a base central region, a base front region, and a base rear region, the adjustment members having a central adjustment member that joins with the mucosal surface of the base central region to form the central region together with the base central region, a front adjustment member that joins with the mucosal surface of the base front region to form the front region together with the base front region, and a rear adjustment member that joins with the mucosal surface of the base rear region to form the rear region together with the base rear region, and at least a portion of the base edge side tip region in the front region and the rear region are constituted by the front adjustment member and the rear adjustment member, respectively.

[0013] Furthermore, in the denture of the above invention, it is preferable that 80% or more of the base edge side tip area of ​​the base edge in the front region is constituted by the front adjustment member, and 80% or more of the base edge side tip area of ​​the base edge in the rear region is constituted by the rear adjustment member.

[0014] Furthermore, in the denture of the above invention, it is preferable that the shape of the adjustment member is adjusted in accordance with the shape of the patient's oral cavity, and that by adjusting the shape, the adjustment member forms an occlusal surface which is a curved surface that can be approximated by a plane and in which the upper and lower teeth (here, teeth means the artificial teeth fixed to the denture and the natural teeth in the case where the patient has natural teeth) are in close contact with each other when the denture is worn in the oral cavity of an individual patient who will be the wearer.

[0015] Furthermore, in the denture of the above invention, when at least one of the artificial teeth is an essential artificial tooth, the essential artificial tooth is selected from the group consisting of a first premolar, a second premolar, a first molar and a canine, and when the boundary portion between the artificial tooth and the anterior ground surface of the denture base is defined as the "tooth neck portion", the wing-shaped portion from the tooth neck portion to the base edge is defined as the "base wing", and the portion on the anterior side of the base wing, having the cervical portion of the essential artificial tooth as its base end and the base edge as its extension, as the "essential artificial tooth anterior base wing portion", it is preferable that the base edge portion of the essential artificial tooth anterior base wing portion of at least one of the essential artificial teeth among one or more of the essential artificial teeth is made of the anterior adjustment member, and 5% to 65% of the ground surface of the essential artificial tooth anterior base wing portion is made of the anterior adjustment member.

[0016] Furthermore, in the denture of the above invention, it is preferable that the denture is a denture for the upper jaw, the essential artificial teeth include an artificial tooth for a canine (artificial canine), and the denture base is a denture base for the upper jaw having, as the posterior region, a "palatal base portion" that covers the palatal mucosa posterior to the alveolar ridge crest region in the patient's upper jaw, the palatal base portion has a "palatal base adjustment portion" made up of the posterior adjustment member, at least a portion of the base edge of the anterior base wing portion of the essential artificial tooth of the artificial canine is made up of the anterior adjustment member, and 10% to 65% of the polished surface of the anterior base wing portion of the essential artificial tooth is made up of the exposed surface of the anterior adjustment member.

[0017] Furthermore, in the denture of the above invention, it is preferable that the denture is a denture for the mandible, the essential artificial teeth include an artificial tooth for a canine (artificial canine), and the denture base is a denture base for the mandible having as the posterior region a "lingual wing portion" that covers the lingual alveolar ridge mucosa posterior to the alveolar ridge crest region of the patient's mandible, the posterior wing portion has a "lingual wing adjustment portion" made up of the posterior adjustment member, at least a portion of the base edge of the essential anterior wing portion of the artificial canine is made up of the anterior adjustment member, and 5% to 60% of the polished surface of the anterior wing portion of the essential artificial tooth is made up of the exposed surface of the anterior adjustment member.

[0018] In addition, according to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reference denture, characterized in that it is used as a reference denture part comprising the reference denture base material and the artificial teeth in the denture of the present invention.

[0019] In the reference denture of the present invention, when at least one of the artificial teeth is considered to be a required artificial tooth, the required artificial tooth is selected from the group consisting of a first premolar, a second premolar, a first molar and a canine, and the required artificial teeth include an artificial canine (artificial canine), and when the reference denture is placed on a plane assumed to be the occlusal plane with the artificial tooth side facing downward, it is preferable that in a longitudinal section cut along a plane perpendicular to the plane and passing through the cusp of the artificial canine, along the normal direction to the polished surface of the base front region, the width of the base front region of the reference denture base 2 mm below the tip of the base edge side of the base front region is 0.5 mm to 3 mm.

[0020] Furthermore, in the above-mentioned reference denture of the present invention, it is preferable that the reference denture is a reference denture for the upper jaw, and that in the longitudinal section, the height difference between the base edge side tip of the front region of the base and the cusp of the artificial canine is 13 mm or more and 20 mm or less.

[0021] In the above-mentioned reference denture of the present invention, it is preferable that the reference denture is a reference denture for the upper jaw, and that the minimum thickness of the base palate plate portion is 0.5 mm or more and 3 mm or less.

[0022] In addition, in the above-mentioned reference denture of the present invention, it is preferable that the reference denture is a reference denture for the mandible, and that in the longitudinal section, the height difference between the base edge side tip of the front region of the base and the cusp of the artificial canine is 13 mm or more and 18 mm or less.

[0023] According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for making a denture, comprising: (A) a reference denture preparation step of preparing a reference denture which is a reference denture member having a reference denture base member and artificial teeth; (B) a reference denture determination step of determining a shape of the reference denture to be used by (1) inserting the reference denture into the patient's oral cavity to confirm a contact state between the mucosa in the patient's oral cavity and the reference denture, or (2) inserting the reference denture into an articulator having a patient's intraoral model attached thereto, so as to position the reference denture at an appropriate position on a virtual occlusal plane which is assumed to be an occlusal plane positioned at a position where the reference denture should be medically located in the patient's oral cavity, and, if inappropriate contact occurs in use, selecting a reference denture having a different shape which does not cause the inappropriate contact, or fine-tuning the shape of the reference denture base member of the reference denture so that the reference denture does not cause the contact; and (C) a reference denture determination step of determining a shape of the reference denture to be used, so as to determine a shape of the reference denture to be used by (i) inserting the reference denture into the patient's oral cavity so as to confirm a contact state between the mucosa in the patient's oral cavity and the reference denture, or (ii) inserting the reference denture into an articulator having a patient's intraoral model attached thereto. a building and transferring step of building up an unhardened hardenable denture base material for forming the adjustment member on the mucosal surface of the reference denture base member of the reference denture determined to be used in the reference denture determining step, and then disposing the reference denture on which the hardenable denture base material has been built up at an appropriate position on the virtual occlusal plane in the patient's oral cavity or in the articulator, and transferring the shape of the mucosa in the patient's oral cavity or the shape of the patient's intraoral model to the hardenable denture base material and performing marginal formation to remove excess of the hardenable denture base material; and (D) a hardening step of hardening the hardenable denture base material that has been through the building and transferring step;The (C) building-up and transferring step includes: (C1) a central building-up and transferring step of building up an unhardened hardenable denture base material on a central region of the base of the reference denture base member to transfer the shape of the patient's oral cavity or the patient's intraoral model; (C2) a front building-up and transferring step of building up an unhardened hardenable denture base material on a front region of the base of the reference denture base member to transfer the shape of the patient's oral cavity or the patient's intraoral model and extend it beyond the base edge to form a margin; and (C3) a rear building-up and transferring step of building up an unhardened hardenable denture base material on a rear region of the base of the reference denture base member to transfer the shape of the patient's oral cavity or the patient's intraoral model and extend it beyond the base edge to form a margin, and the method for producing a denture is characterized in that after the central building-up and transferring step, the front building-up and transferring step and the rear building-up and transferring step are performed simultaneously or separately.

[0024] In the above-mentioned manufacturing method of the present invention, it is preferable that the reference denture as defined in claim 7 is prepared in the reference denture preparation step, and the denture as defined in claim 1 is manufactured.

[0025] Furthermore, in the above-mentioned manufacturing method of the present invention, it is preferable that the method further includes a wash step, after completion of the anterior building up and transfer step and the posterior building up and transfer step, of adding the hardenable denture base material in an unhardened state onto the mucosal surface of the reference denture base to correct the shape of the mucosal surface. Effect of the Invention

[0026] According to the present invention, dentures that include material parts made of a reference denture as a component part can be manufactured with higher overall efficiency, including pre-checking and adjustment by grinding, without compromising the fit for each individual patient. Furthermore, by pre-checking the reference denture that can be used as a material component for dentures, the occurrence rate of cases requiring adjustment by grinding can be significantly reduced. Furthermore, in the method for producing a denture, the denture can be produced efficiently. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0027] [Figure 1] Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a denture according to an embodiment of the present invention. Note that Fig. 1(a) in the upper part and Fig. 1(b) in the lower part show "artificial canine vertical cross sections" of a maxillary denture and a mandibular denture of a complete denture type (canine-containing form), respectively. [Diagram 2] 1 is a diagram showing an image of an upper jaw denture and a lower jaw denture according to one embodiment of the present invention worn by a patient. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a standard denture for an upper jaw according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a mandibular standard denture according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] 1 is a side view showing a state in which a patient's intraoral model is attached to an articulator used in a denture making method according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 6] 6A to 6C are diagrams showing alignment tools used when setting the upper and lower reference dentures in an articulator or in the patient's oral cavity in a denture making method according to one embodiment of the present invention, where (6a) shows a plan view, (6b) shows a side view, and (6c) shows a rear view. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which a maxillary reference denture and a mandibular reference denture according to one embodiment of the present invention are respectively in occlusion. [Figure 8] This is a schematic diagram for explaining a suitable three-dimensional shape of a complete denture type upper denture that includes a canine and a first molar according to one embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram for explaining the position of the XA-XA' cross section which is the "artificial canine vertical cross section" and the position of the YA-YA' cross section which is the "artificial first molar vertical cross section". [Figure 9] This is a schematic diagram for explaining a suitable three-dimensional shape of a complete denture type mandibular denture that includes a canine and a first molar according to one embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram for explaining the position of the XB-XB' cross section which is the "artificial canine vertical cross section" and the position of the YB-YB' cross section which is the "artificial first molar vertical cross section". [Figure 10] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a suitable three-dimensional shape of a complete denture type maxillary denture including canines and first molars according to one embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) on the left is a diagram illustrating the height difference between the floor edge tip of the anterior region of the base and the cusp of the maxillary canine, and the height difference between the highest point of the palatal base and the cusp of the maxillary canine, in the "artificial canine vertical section", and (b) on the right is a diagram illustrating the height difference between the floor edge tip of the anterior region of the base and the mesial buccal cusp tip of the maxillary first molar, and the height difference between the highest point of the palatal base and the mesial buccal cusp tip of the first molar, in the "artificial first molar vertical section". [Figure 11] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a suitable three-dimensional shape of a complete denture type mandibular denture including canines and first molars according to one embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) on the left is a diagram illustrating the height difference between the apex of the mandibular canine and the cusp of the mandibular canine on the "artificial canine vertical cross section", and (b) on the right is a diagram illustrating the height difference between the apex of the mandibular canine and the cusp of the mandibular canine on the "artificial canine vertical cross section", and (b) on the right is a diagram illustrating the height difference between the apex of the mandibular canine and the cusp of the mandibular canine on the "artificial first molar vertical cross section", and (c) on the right is a diagram illustrating the height difference between the apex of the mandibular canine and the cusp of the mandibular canine on the "artificial first molar vertical cross section". [Figure 12] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the shape of a standard upper denture according to an embodiment of the present invention in a plan view, and is a diagram for explaining the length of each part defining a suitable planar shape based on the length of line segment PQ. [Figure 13] This is a diagram showing the shape of a standard denture for the lower jaw in one embodiment of the present invention when viewed in a plane, and is a diagram for explaining the length of each part that defines a suitable planar shape based on the length of line segment pq. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0028] The denture of the present invention is a denture that is suitably manufactured by the denture manufacturing method of the present invention using the standard denture of the present invention as a material member, and has a novel structure that has not been known until now, but the structure is inevitably obtained by adopting such a denture manufacturing method of the present invention. In addition, one of the effects of the denture manufacturing method of the present invention is that it can be manufactured by the denture manufacturing method of the present invention. The effects of the denture manufacturing method of the present invention are mainly that it is a method that is advantageous over the customization method, and that it significantly reduces the frequency of cases where adjustment by grinding is required due to a pre-check, which was not considered in the method disclosed in Patent Document 2, and that anyone can manufacture a denture with high accuracy and good reproducibility, regardless of the skill level of the fabricator.

[0029] Therefore, the present invention will be outlined after first explaining the customization method and the method disclosed in Patent Document 2, which are used for comparison of the above effects. In addition, when specifically explaining the present invention, the characteristics of general dentures and reference dentures will be explained first to facilitate understanding, and then the dentures of the present invention, reference dentures, and manufacturing methods will be sequentially explained.

[0030] [1. Current denture manufacturing method (customized method)] The current method of making dentures (customization method) roughly includes the following steps 1 to 8. [Current denture manufacturing method (customization method) procedure: steps] 1: Take an impression of the patient's mouth using impression material. 2: A plaster model is made using the impression. 3: Have the patient wear the bite plate and take a bite record. 4: Artificial teeth are arranged on the bite plate and a wax denture is created. 5: Try on the wax denture on the patient and adjust the occlusion. 6: The wax denture is embedded in plaster to create a mold. 7: Resin is poured into the mold and allowed to harden to create the denture. 8: Fine-tune the denture. Generally, step 8 above includes the following three steps: 8-1: Form correction 8-2: Occlusal adjustment, and 8-3: Internal adjustments as necessary

[0031] The above steps 1, 2, 3, and 5 are usually performed in a dental clinic, and steps 4, 6, and 7 are usually performed in a dental laboratory. Step 8 is often performed in both dental clinics and dental laboratories. The operations related to steps 1 to 8 as described above are complicated and require specialized (skilled) techniques. In addition, since the workers and work locations are different, the preparation period is usually long.

[0032] [2. Method for making dentures according to Patent Document 2] Here, in order to reduce the time required to produce a denture obtained through each of the steps described above, the above-mentioned Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose technical content relating to dentures using a complete denture type denture base which makes it easy to standardize the denture base.

[0033] When the present inventors attempted to fabricate dentures using the standard denture described in Patent Document 2 and the method using the jig described in Patent Document 3, they found advantages that had not been recognized before, and at the same time, it became clear that there were problems (points requiring improvement) that had not been recognized in these patent documents. First, to explain the advantages, in step 7 of the customization method, the position of the placed artificial teeth may shift due to contraction of the resin that serves as the base material when hardened, so that the occlusal adjustment in step 8-2 often took a relatively long time, whereas in the method of the present invention using the standard denture, such displacement of the artificial teeth does not occur, and the time required for occlusal adjustment can be significantly reduced.

[0034] On the other hand, as for the points requiring improvement, as mentioned above, when preparing dentures using a reference denture, it is common to perform a simple pre-check by inserting the upper and / or lower reference dentures into the patient's oral cavity and checking how well they contact the mucous membrane, etc. In the technology disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 2, the check is performed using either the upper or lower reference dentures alone without paying particular attention to the occlusal state, but it has been found that when a pre-check is performed while maintaining a good occlusal state, it is relatively common that adjustment by grinding is required. When such grinding is required, it is necessary to perform a pre-adjustment by grinding using a handy grinding machine, etc., but such a pre-adjustment leads to an increase in the time required for preparing the dentures. Therefore, the first point requiring improvement is to reduce the occurrence rate of such cases.

[0035] The second area requiring improvement is that when the laying down of the lining material and the transfer to the mucosal surface are carried out at the same time, it is difficult to perform a highly accurate transfer, and differences in the skills of the workers can lead to variations in the state of the transfer, and there is also room for improvement in this regard.

[0036] 3. Overview of the Invention In light of the above-mentioned background, the present invention first provides, as a denture of the present invention, a denture that can be manufactured while avoiding the occurrence of such problems.

[0037] Furthermore, the reference denture of the present invention, specifically the reference denture for the upper jaw of the present invention and / or the reference denture for the lower jaw of the present invention, are also material components that constitute part of the denture of the present invention, and make it possible to significantly reduce the occurrence of cases in which adjustment by grinding is required in the pre-check in which the reference denture is inserted into the patient's oral cavity or into an articulator equipped with a model of the patient's oral cavity obtained in step 2 of the customization method.

[0038] Furthermore, the denture fabrication method of the present invention enables efficient fabrication of dentures that fit individual patients by performing the building-up and transfer processes, which are performed to adapt the mucosal surface of a reference denture base material to the patient's oral mucosa, in multiple stages. That is, according to the denture fabrication method of the present invention, (1) adapting the mucosal surface of the central part (center region of base) of the reference denture base, and (2) adapting the mucosal surfaces of the anterior part (anterior region of base) and posterior part (posterior region of base) and forming and adapting the margins (base margins) are performed separately, making it easy to perform highly accurate transfer, and furthermore, it is possible to suppress variations in the state of transfer due to differences in the skills of workers, etc.

[0039] To explain the features of the manufacturing method of the present invention in more detail, by using the reference denture of the present invention, the manufacturing method of the present invention makes it possible to eliminate the need for grinding adjustments in the pre-check, or, even if grinding is required, to significantly reduce the amount of grinding.

[0040] The inventors' research has revealed that there are large individual differences between patients in the shape of the area near the base edge of the anterior denture wings (sometimes called the labial or buccal wing depending on its location) of the upper and lower dentures, and the area near the palatal base edge of the upper dentures. The fabrication method of the present invention uses the standard dentures of the present invention with a large adjustment margin in these areas, which has succeeded in increasing the number of patients to whom the method can be applied.

[0041] When the shape and size of the reference denture are made smaller as described above, the adjustment allowance becomes large, and therefore, if position adjustment using adjustment members (specifically, position adjustment so that an ideal occlusal state can be achieved when worn) is performed in a single stage, large variations due to differences in skill will inevitably occur.

[0042] In contrast, in the manufacturing method of the present invention, rough positioning is performed by first adapting the mucosal surface of the central region of the base. Next, with a small variation range, the mucosal surfaces of the anterior part (anterior region of the base) and posterior part (posterior region of the base) are adapted and the margins (base margins) are formed and adapted. This allows anyone to perform highly accurate positioning. At this time, the margins are formed while supplementing (extending) the height of the anterior wing part of the reference denture base and the length of the posterior part of the reference denture base with hardening denture base material such as a lining material, thereby making the boundary with the patient's mucosa natural.

[0043] For these reasons, by adopting the manufacturing method of the present invention, it becomes possible for anyone (not only doctors but also non-doctors) to efficiently manufacture dentures that fit individual patients with good reproducibility, without the need for advanced training.

[0044] Below, we will briefly explain the general characteristics of the denture and the reference denture that is its main component, and then explain the denture of the present invention. Note that these general characteristics, especially the basic shape, names of parts, materials, and method of use, also apply to the denture of the present invention and the reference denture.

[0045] [4. General characteristics of dentures] A denture (with a plate) is a removable prosthetic device that restores oral functions such as mastication when natural teeth and surrounding tissues such as gums and alveolar bone are lost, and prevents disorders caused by changes in facial shape and loss of teeth and surrounding tissues. In a denture, the components that replace missing (natural) teeth are artificial teeth, and the components that replace missing surrounding tissues are denture bases. In this denture base, the surface that comes into contact with the alveolar ridge mucosa (the surface that is not polished in terms of compatibility when making dentures) is generally called the "mucosal surface" (or base surface), and the opposite surface that may come into contact with the buccal mucosa or tongue (the surface that is polished when making dentures) is generally called the "polished surface," and the boundary between the two is called the "base margin." In addition, the boundary between the gum-equivalent part of the denture base and the artificial teeth is called the "tooth neck," and the wing-shaped part with the tooth neck as the base and the base margin as the tip is called the "base wing." The part of the denture base to which the artificial teeth are fixed is called the "alveolar portion." In this invention, following this naming convention, the surfaces of dentures (plate dentures) are divided into two: the surface that comes into close contact with the alveolar ridge mucosa, and the opposite surface, with the former being referred to as the "mucosal surface" and the latter being referred to as the "polished surface."

[0046] Dentures are classified into maxillary dentures for the upper jaw and mandibular dentures for the lower jaw, and there are complete dentures for use when all teeth are missing, and partial dentures for use when some teeth are missing. Comparing maxillary dentures and mandibular dentures, the denture bases of both types are common in that they have parts called "labial wing" and "buccal wing," which are parts that cover the mucous membrane on the labial and cheek sides of the patient's oral cavity (in this specification, the direction toward the labial and cheek sides is defined as the anterior direction). However, due to differences in the functions and shapes of the upper and lower jaws, the shapes of the parts that cover the mucous membrane on the throat side of the patient's oral cavity (in this specification, the direction toward the throat side is defined as the posterior direction) are significantly different. In other words, the posterior part of the denture base for the upper jaw is called the "palatal base" which covers the upper palate mucosa, while the posterior part of the denture base for the lower jaw is called the "lingual base wing" which covers the alveolar ridge mucosa on the tongue side of the mandible, and the alveolar ridge is sandwiched between this lingual base wing and the labial base wing and buccal base wing.

[0047] In addition, the anterior flaps are divided into three regions, the left buccal flaps, the labial flaps, and the right buccal flaps, according to the opposing regions. Although the boundaries are not necessarily strictly defined, the labial flaps refer to the region from the tooth neck toward the tooth edge of the central incisors, lateral incisors, and canines, and the left buccal (right buccal) flaps refer to the region from the tooth neck toward the tooth edge of the first premolar, second premolar, first molar, and second molar on the left (right) side. However, the canine region is sometimes included in the buccal side.

[0048] In addition, the front wing is a common part for the upper and lower denture bases, and although the basic shape is the same, the shape is slightly different due to the difference in the function and shape of the upper and lower jaws. For example, the standard height of the occlusal ridge is listed on page 51 of "Dental Technician Textbook: Dental Technology with Plates, Dental Technology with Full Plates" (Gonda Etsumichi et al.; published March 1994 (Ishiyaku Publishing)), and according to this, the height of the occlusal ridge for the upper jaw is 22 mm, and the height of the occlusal ridge for the lower jaw is 18 mm, which is slightly lower.

[0049] Thus, in both upper and lower jaw dentures, it is common to divide them into two regions, an anterior region and a posterior region, and to give them part names (such part names are also called "two-part names"). However, in the dentures and reference dentures of the present invention, the region of the mucosa in the patient's oral cavity covered by the denture base is focused on, and the dentures are divided into three regions and given their own part names (such names are also called "three-part names"). That is, (1) the region (part) having a mucosal surface covering the mucosa in the alveolar ridge crest region in the patient's oral cavity is called the "central region", (2) the region (part) having a mucosal surface covering the mucosa in the patient's oral cavity anterior to the alveolar ridge crest region is called the "anterior region", and (3) the region (part) having a mucosal surface covering the mucosa in the patient's oral cavity posterior to the alveolar ridge crest region is called the "posterior region".

[0050] The above "central region" corresponds to a region consisting of a part of the region posterior (included in the alveolar ridge apex region) of the "labial base wing" and "buccal base wing" in the two-division name, and a part of the region anterior (included in the alveolar ridge apex region) of the "palatal base" or "lingual base wing". The "anterior region" corresponds to the main part excluding the part that becomes the "central region" of the "labial base wing" and "buccal base wing". The "posterior region" corresponds to the main part excluding the part that becomes the "central region" of the "palatal base" or "lingual base wing". For this reason (not a perfect match, but as there is a large overlap), the "posterior region" of the upper and lower dentures in the three-division name is referred to as the "palatal base" and "lingual base wing", respectively, as in the two-division name.

[0051] The following resins are generally used as materials for the denture base. That is, poly(meth)acrylate-based resins selected from homopolymers of methyl (meth)acrylate, ethyl (meth)acrylate, isopropyl (meth)acrylate, n-propyl (meth)acrylate, and butyl (meth)acrylate, or copolymers thereof; polyolefin-based resins (e.g., polypropylene); polyamide-based resins (e.g., Nylon 66 (registered trademark)); polyester-based resins (e.g., polycarbonate); polyether-based resins (e.g., polyacetal, polysulfone); polynitrile-based resins (e.g., polyacrylonitrile); polyvinyl-based resins (e.g., polyvinyl acetate); cellulose-based resins (e.g., cellulose acetate); fluorine-based resins (e.g., polychlorofluoroethylene); imide-based resins (e.g., aromatic polyimide), and the like are used. These resin materials are often used alone, but may also be used with the addition of fillers such as organic fillers, inorganic fillers, and organic-inorganic composite fillers. Metal materials may also be used as part of the denture base.

[0052] The type and number of artificial teeth arranged and fixed on the denture base are appropriately determined according to the desired denture. The number may be one, but usually a plurality of artificial teeth are fixed. As such artificial teeth, known artificial teeth made of resin or ceramic can be used. Examples of artificial teeth made of resin include artificial teeth made of the above-mentioned poly(meth)acrylate resin, polyolefin resin, polyamide resin, polyester resin, polyether resin, polynitrile resin, polyvinyl resin, cellulose resin, fluorine resin, imide resin, silicone resin, etc. As a method for fixing the artificial teeth, conventionally known methods such as fitting and adhesion can be used without any restrictions.

[0053] [5. General characteristics of standard dentures] A reference denture is a ready-made denture-like component used as a material component to facilitate the fabrication of dentures, more specifically, a denture-like component whose shape and size are standardized to a predetermined standard and which can be mass-produced in a factory, laboratory, etc. as a component product that satisfies predetermined specifications. Note that the word "pre-made" here means that it is in a state where it is available as a component product.

[0054] A reference denture consists of a reference denture base and artificial teeth fixed thereto. When a denture is made using this as a component, the artificial teeth part of the reference denture becomes the artificial teeth part of the denture, and the denture base of the reference denture (reference denture base) constitutes the main part of the denture base of the denture. In other words, the reference denture base is the base of the denture, and compared with the final form (shape) of the denture base of the denture, the space or gap (hereinafter, also referred to as the "reference denture non-fitting space") formed between the mucosal surface of the reference denture base and the intraoral mucosa of the individual patient (the wearer) is filled with a hardening denture base material such as a lining material so that the two fit together. Although it is smaller by the amount of the reference denture non-fitting space, which can be called the "adjustment allowance," its basic structure and shape are the same as those of a denture. Therefore, in the present invention, the reference denture is regarded as a denture, and the mucosal surface, polished surface and base edge are defined, and each area (portion) of the reference denture is referred to as the "base central area," "base anterior area" and "base posterior area," respectively, in accordance with the three-division names of the corresponding denture areas (portions): "central area," "anterior area," and "posterior area."

[0055] That is, the reference denture includes a reference denture base and artificial teeth, the reference denture base has a "base central region," a "base front region," and a "base rear region," and the artificial teeth are fixed to the polished surface side of the region extending from the "base central region" to the "base front region." The reference denture base and artificial teeth in the reference denture are no different from the denture base and artificial teeth in the denture, except that the shape of the reference denture base is as described above.

[0056] The reference denture base can be produced by various methods, such as injection molding, compression molding, cutting, and photolithography using a three-dimensional printer. The reference denture base and the artificial teeth (row) may be produced integrally, or the reference denture base and the artificial teeth (row) may be produced separately, and then the artificial teeth (row) are attached to the alveolar part of the reference denture base. The former has the advantage that mass production is easy and production costs can be significantly reduced, while the latter has the advantage that artificial teeth (row) that fit each individual patient can be formed.

[0057] In addition, reference dentures are often prepared as ready-made dentures that do not require many variations in the arrangement of teeth, and differ only in relative size. Also, reference dentures for complete dentures (full dentures) in which the entire dentition is fixed are often used.

[0058] Generally, because of the purpose of its use, the planar shape of the reference denture base is often designed to be suitable for many patients (so to speak, a common part with the greatest common denominator) based on a large amount of clinical data and data on the oral shapes of many dentulous and edentulous individuals (see Patent Document 2). However, to the present inventors' knowledge, there are no examples in which the three-dimensional shape of the reference denture base has been optimized or specified in consideration of the amount of hardenable denture base material such as lining material to be used, the frequency with which adjustment by grinding is required in advance checks, and the strength of the reference denture.

[0059] [6. Denture according to one embodiment of the present invention] A complete denture (full denture) type denture 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to Figures 1 and 2. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the denture 1 (1A, 1B) has a basic structure in which artificial teeth 31 (31A, 31B) or artificial dentition 30 (30A, 30B) are fixed to a denture base 2 (2A, 2B), similar to a general denture.

[0060] Similarly to a general denture made using a reference denture, the denture base 2 (2A, 2B) has a reference denture base member 5 (5A, 5B) having artificial teeth 31 (31A, 31B) fixed thereto (4A, 4B), and an adjusting member 6 made of a hardened body of a hardenable denture base material. The denture base 2 (2A, 2B) has the reference denture base member 4 (4A, 4B) and an adjusting member 6 joined to the reference denture base member 4 (4A, 4B). The reference denture base member 4 (4A, 4B) is the base that constitutes the main part of the denture base 2 (2A, 2B), and in the configuration shown in Figures 1 and 2, the adjusting member 6 constitutes the remainder of the denture base 2.

[0061] Furthermore, the denture base 2 (2A, 2B) of this embodiment has a "central region" 2A1, 2B1, an "anterior region" 2A2, 2B2, and a "posterior region" 2A3, 2B3 in the three-part name, similar to a conventional general denture. The reference denture base member 4 (4A, 4B) has the "base central region" 20A1, 20B1, the "base anterior region" 20A2, 20B2, and the "base posterior region" 20A3, 20B3, respectively, corresponding to the above-mentioned regions, similar to a conventional general reference denture base. Note that the numbers (symbols) of each part of the reference denture base member 4 (4A, 4B) use the same numbers (symbols) as the reference denture 10 of this embodiment (see Figs. 3 and 4) which has the reference denture base member 4 as a reference denture base and is used as the reference denture member 5.

[0062] A major feature of the denture 1 of this embodiment is that in all of these areas, the standard denture base member 4 (4A, 4B) forms the main part of the denture base 2 (2A, 2B) and is joined to the adjustment member 6 in a specific manner.

[0063] That is, the adjusting member 6 has central adjusting members 6A1, 6B1 which constitute the remaining portion of the central region 2A1, 2B1 excluding the reference denture base member 4 (4A, 4B) and which are joined to the mucosal surfaces 23A, 23B of the base central region 20A1, 20B1. The adjusting member 6 also has front adjusting members 6A2, 6B2 which constitute the remaining portion of the front region 2A2, 2B2 excluding the reference denture base member 4 (4A, 4B) and which are joined to the mucosal surfaces 23A, 23B of the base front region 20A2, 20B2. The adjusting member 6 also has a first characteristic in that it has rear adjusting members 6A3, 6B3 which constitute the remaining portion of the rear region 2A3, 2B3 excluding the reference denture base member 4 (4A, 4B) and which are joined to the mucosal surfaces 23A, 23B of the base rear region 20A3, 20B3. Therefore, at least a portion of each of the mucosal surfaces 1A4, 1B4 in the central regions 2A1, 2B1, the front regions 2A2, 2B2 and the rear regions 2A3, 2B3 is constituted by the central adjustment members 6A1, 6B1, the front adjustment members 6A2, 6B2 and the rear adjustment members 6A3, 6B3, respectively. Furthermore, a second feature is that at least a part of the tip regions on the floor edges 1A6, 1B6 sides of the front regions 2A2, 2B2 and the rear regions 2A3, 2B3 are respectively constituted by the front adjustment members 6A2, 6B2 and the rear adjustment members 6A3, 6B3.

[0064] In addition, the central adjustment member 6A1 (6B1), the front adjustment member 6A2 (6B2) and the rear adjustment member 6A3 (6B3) do not necessarily need to exist independently, but may be connected to each other and formed so as to cover the entire mucosal surface of the reference denture base member 4A (4B).

[0065] Usually, in the denture 1 (1A, 1B) of this embodiment, the reference denture base member 4 (4A, 4B) has a standardized predetermined shape (a mass-produced predetermined shape) or a shape substantially identical to the shape. Here, "substantially the same shape" means a shape that is changed very slightly from the predetermined shape by fine adjustment by simple grinding, etc. Also, the adjustment member 6 has a shape adjusted according to the shape of the patient's oral cavity so that the "occlusal plane" that approximates the "occlusal surface" that is a curved surface closely contacting the upper and lower teeth (here, the teeth mean the artificial teeth fixed to the denture and the natural teeth in the case where the patient has natural teeth) is located at a position that should be medically present in the patient's oral cavity when the denture is worn in the oral cavity of the individual patient who will be the wearer.

[0066] The denture 1 (1A, 1B) of this embodiment has the structure described above, and therefore has a fit that is comparable to that of dentures obtained by customized methods, and can be easily manufactured in a short period of time by adopting the manufacturing method of this embodiment.

[0067] The curable denture base material, which is the material of the hardened body constituting the adjustment member 6 in the denture 1 (1A, 1B) of this embodiment, means a polymerizable and hardening material that becomes the above-mentioned resin denture base material by hardening. The curable denture base material contains a monomer (polymerizable monomer) that is the raw material of the resin material, a polymerization initiator, and, if necessary, a filler, and is a material that can be plastically deformed into a paste or rice cake-like shape before hardening and can maintain its shape when no stress is applied. The polymerization type of the curable denture base material can be photopolymerized, thermally polymerized, chemically polymerized, microwave polymerized, etc., depending on the type of polymerization initiator used, but from the viewpoint of operability, the photopolymerized type is preferable.

[0068] In view of the magnitude of its effect, the denture of this embodiment is preferably a denture comprising one or more artificial teeth, the essential artificial teeth of which are at least one artificial tooth selected from the group consisting of a first premolar, a second premolar, a first molar, and a canine, in particular a denture in a form in which three or more artificial teeth 31 (31A, 31B) including artificial canines 31A3, 31B3 (see Figures 7, 10, and 11) are fixed individually and / or connected to each other (hereinafter also referred to as a "canine-containing form"), more preferably a denture in a form in which three or more artificial teeth 31 (31A, 31B) including artificial canines and artificial first molars 31A6, 31B6 are fixed (hereinafter also referred to as a "canine-first molar-containing form"), and particularly preferably a complete denture. Furthermore, when the boundary portion between the artificial tooth and the anterior polished surface of the denture base is defined as the "tooth neck portion," the wing-shaped portion from the tooth neck portion to the base edge is defined as the "base wing," and the portion on the anterior side of the wing, which has the cervical portion of the essential artificial tooth as its base end and the base edge as an extension of that end as the "anterior base wing portion of the essential artificial tooth," it is preferable that when there is one essential artificial tooth, the base edge portion of the anterior base wing portion of the essential artificial tooth of that artificial tooth, and when there are multiple essential artificial teeth, the base edge portion of the anterior base wing portion of the essential artificial tooth of at least one of those artificial teeth are made up of the anterior adjustment member, and that 5% to 65% (hereinafter, "x or more, y or less" may be abbreviated as "x to y") of the polished surface of the anterior base wing portion of the essential artificial tooth is made up of the anterior adjustment member.

[0069] In the canine-containing form, the portion of the anterior grinding surface 1A5, 1B5 where the artificial canine is present, which has the tooth neck 1A7, 1B7 as the base end and the extension of the base edge 1A6, 1B6 as the tip end, is the "essential artificial tooth anterior wing part". In the canine-containing form, when the "essential artificial tooth anterior wing part" for this artificial canine is the "canine anterior wing part", at least a part of the base edge of the canine anterior wing part is made of the anterior adjustment member 6A2, 6B2, and further, it is preferable that 5% to 65% of the grinding surface of the "canine anterior wing part" is made of the anterior adjustment member 6A2, 6B2. In the canine- and molar-containing form, the portion of the anterior grinding surface 1A5, 1B5 having the cervical portion 1A7, 1B7 of the artificial first molar 31A6, 31B6 as the base end and the extension of the edge 1A6, 1B6 as the tip end is the "essential artificial tooth anterior wing" of the artificial first molar. In the canine- and molar-containing form, when the "essential artificial tooth anterior wing" of this artificial first molar is the "first molar anterior wing", in addition to satisfying the suitable conditions in the canine-containing form, it is preferable that the edge of the rearmost molar anterior wing is made of the anterior adjustment member 6A2, 6B2, and further 5% to 65% of the grinding surface of the "first molar anterior wing" is made of the anterior adjustment member 6A2, 6B2.

[0070] The above describes the common features of the upper and lower dentures 1 (1A, 1B) in this embodiment, but as mentioned above, there are differences between the upper and lower dentures, and these differences are also reflected in the dentures of this embodiment. That is, in the upper denture 1A of this embodiment, the denture base 2 has the upper denture base 2A, which is the palate base portion 2A3 that covers the upper palate mucosa of the patient, as the rear region. Moreover, the reference denture member 5 is a reference denture member 5A for the upper jaw in which the artificial teeth 31A are fixed to the upper reference denture base 4A having the base palate base portion 20A3 that constitutes the main part of the palate base portion 2A3 as the base rear region. Furthermore, the palate base portion 2A3 has a palate base adjustment portion 6A3 constituted by the rear adjustment member. In addition, in the denture 1A of this embodiment, which is for the upper jaw and has a canine-containing configuration, it is preferable that at least a portion of the base edge of the "canine anterior wing portion" is made up of the anterior adjustment member 6A2, and that 10% to 65%, and particularly 10% to 60% or less of the polished surface of the canine anterior wing portion is made up of the exposed surface of the anterior adjustment member 6A2.

[0071] On the other hand, in the denture 1B of this embodiment which is for the mandible, the denture base 2 has, as the posterior region, a denture base 2B for the mandible which is a lingual base wing portion 2B3 which covers the lingual alveolar ridge mucosal surface of the patient. The reference denture member 5 is a reference denture member 5B for the lower jaw in which the artificial teeth 31B are fixed to a reference denture base 4B for the lower jaw having a base lingual wing portion 20B3 constituting a main portion of the lingual wing portion 2B3 as the base rear region. The lingual wing portion 2B3 has a lingual wing adjustment portion 6B3 constituted by the rear adjustment member. In addition, in the denture 1B of this embodiment, which is for the lower jaw and has a canine-containing form, it is preferable that at least a portion of the base edge of the "canine anterior wing portion" is constituted by the anterior adjustment member 6B2, and that 5% to 60%, particularly 10% to 60% or less of the canine anterior wing portion is constituted by the exposed surface of the anterior adjustment member 6B2.

[0072] Here, as shown in FIG. 1(a), the radius of curvature of the mucosal surface of the upper reference denture base 4A (upper reference denture member 5A) where the central adjustment member 6A1 is arranged is smaller than the radius of curvature of the mucosal surface where the front adjustment member 6A2 and the palate plate adjustment portion 6A3 are arranged. Since the radius of curvature of the part where the central adjustment member 6A1 is arranged is small, positioning when forming the front adjustment member 6A2 and the palate plate adjustment portion 6A3 is easy. On the other hand, due to the small radius of curvature, when filling the non-fitting space of the reference denture with a hardening denture base material to fit the mucosal surface of the patient's mouth, if this fitting is to be performed in a single operation, the front and back are likely to move up and down with this part as a fulcrum when even a slight force is applied, and a high level of technique is required to perform a high-precision fitting. However, by adopting the manufacturing method of the present invention, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of such a movement while receiving the above-mentioned advantage of easy positioning.

[0073] 1(b), the radius of curvature of the mucosal surface of the mandibular reference denture base 4B (mandibular reference denture member 5B) where the central adjustment member 6B1 is arranged is smaller than the radius of curvature of the mucosal surface where the anterior adjustment member 6B2 and the lingual wing adjustment portion 6B3 are arranged. Since the radius of curvature of the portion where the central adjustment member 6B1 is arranged is small, positioning when forming the anterior adjustment member 6B2 and the lingual wing adjustment portion 6B3 is easy, and the occurrence of wobble can be suppressed by adopting the manufacturing method of the present invention, as with the above-mentioned maxillary reference denture base 4A.

[0074] In the upper reference denture base 4A (upper reference denture member 5A), the central region 2A1 is located near the artificial teeth 31. Therefore, as is clear from the planar shape of the upper reference denture 10A (see FIG. 12) described later, the central region 2A1 has an arched (U-shaped) shape. Then, by arranging the hardenable denture base material that will be at least a part of the central adjustment member 6A1 in the central part of the curved part of the arched central region 2A1 and at least three other parts (including the vicinity of both ends), usually over the entire region, positioning with respect to the shape of the patient's mouth can be performed even at a stage where the hardenable denture base material that will be at least a part of the front adjustment member 6A2 and the palate base adjustment portion 6A3 have not yet been arranged.

[0075] [7. Reference denture according to one embodiment of the present invention] The reference denture according to one embodiment of the present invention is a reference denture used as the reference denture part in a denture according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0076] 3 and 4, a reference denture 10 (10A, 10B) of this embodiment that can be suitably used as the reference denture member 5 of the denture 1 of this embodiment will be described. The reference denture 10 (10A, 10B) has a basic structure in which artificial teeth 31 or a row of artificial teeth 30 are fixed to a reference denture base 20, similar to a conventional general reference denture. The reference denture base 20 has "base central regions" 20A1, 20B1, "base anterior regions" 20A2, 20B2, and "base posterior regions" 20A3, 20B3, which respectively correspond to the "central regions" 2A1, 2B1, "anterior regions" 2A2, 2B2, and "posterior regions" 2A3, 2B3 in the denture base 2 of the denture 1. In addition, in the reference denture 10, the names of parts such as the base edges 22A, 22B (labial base edges 22A1, 22B1 and buccal base edges 22A2, 22B2), mucosal surfaces 23A, 23B, polished surfaces 24A, 24B, and cervical portion have the same meanings as in conventional dentures and conventional reference dentures.

[0077] Regarding the planar shape of the reference denture, including the reference denture of this embodiment, even in the case of conventional reference dentures, optimization is performed so as to fit many patients based on a large amount of clinical data and data on the oral shapes of many dentate and edentulous patients (see Patent Document 2). Also, depending on the size of the patient's oral cavity, a reference denture having an appropriate size is selected and used as a material component for the denture for that patient.

[0078] Regarding the three-dimensional shape of the reference denture, the basic design concept of the conventional reference denture is to ensure the "reference denture non-fitting space" which is an adjustment allowance made by the hardening denture base material. However, as a specific method for ensuring the "reference denture non-fitting space", the thickness of the reference denture base is generally made uniformly thin (see Patent Document 1), and it has not been optimized according to the intended purpose.

[0079] In contrast, the three-dimensional shape of the reference denture of this embodiment is specified taking into consideration the wide range of fit of the reference denture (in other words, the low frequency of need for adjustment by grinding in a pre-check), the ease of adjustment of the mucosal surface using a hardenable denture base material, the amount of hardenable denture base material used at that time, the strength of the reference denture, etc. In other words, when the shape of the denture base 2 is used as a basic shape, not only is the thickness of at least a part of the base central region, base front region, and base rear region significantly thinner than the thickness of the central region, front region, and rear region, but the height of the base edge of the base front region is significantly lower than that of a conventional reference denture, ensuring a space in which the central adjustment members 6A1, 6B1, the front adjustment members 6A2, 6B2, and the rear adjustment members 6A3, 6B3 can be joined. The planar shape and three-dimensional shape of the reference denture of the present invention will be described in more detail below.

[0080] (7-1. About the suitable planar shape) The planar shape of the reference denture of the present invention is preferably a planar shape as described in Patent Document 2. Such a planar shape will be described below with reference to Figs. 12 and 13. In terms of a suitable planar shape, the point corresponding to the left pterygomaxillary notch on the posterior edge of the base for the maxillary reference denture, and the point corresponding to the left retromolar eminence on the posterior edge of the base for the mandibular reference denture are defined as the first reference point for the maxillary (mandibular): P(p). Similarly, the point corresponding to the right pterygomaxillary notch on the maxillary reference denture and the point corresponding to the right retromolar eminence on the mandibular reference denture are defined as the second reference point for the maxillary (mandibular): Q(q). Furthermore, the point corresponding to the upper (lower) labial frenulum at the midpoint of the labial base edge is defined as the third reference point for the maxillary (mandibular): O(o). The length of the line segment PQ(pq) connecting P(p) and Q(q) is taken as the reference length, and the lengths from a number of points set at predetermined positions on two reference line segments OP(op) and OQ(oq) connecting the third reference point and the first and second reference points, respectively, to the floor edge, and the length of the line segment OM(om) when the midpoint of the line segment PQ(pq) is M(m) are taken as the ratios of the respective reference lengths to the respective reference lengths within a predetermined range. Note that the above-mentioned reference points and multiple points do not necessarily exist on the same plane, but since the difference in height with respect to the length of each line segment that defines the shape is slight, this specification treats it as a planar shape. Below, the above-mentioned points and the length from each point to the base edge (relative length normalized by the reference length) will be explained separately for the upper jaw reference denture and the lower jaw reference denture.

[0081] (1) Standard dentures for the upper jaw Each point of the upper jaw reference denture is on the line segment OP, and each point means three points that divide the line segment into four equal parts (P1, P2, and P3 from the front to the back), and three points that divide the line segment into four equal parts (points Q1, Q2, and Q3 from the front to the back) on the line segment OQ. Then, when a perpendicular line is drawn to the line segment OP or line segment OQ where each point is located, the points that intersect with the front denture base edge (D1, D2, and D3 as points corresponding to P1, P2, and P3, and E1, E2, and E3 as points corresponding to Q1, Q2, and Q3) are determined. And, the length from each point to the denture base edge means the relative length of the line segments connecting the corresponding two points, that is, the line segments P1D1, P2D2, and P3D3, and the line segments Q1E1, Q2E2, and Q3E3, to the line segment PQ.

[0082] The preferred planar shape of the upper denture base is one in which the length of line segment OM is 0.76 to 0.98, the lengths of line segments P1D1 and Q1E1 are each 0.11 to 0.36, the lengths of line segments P2D2 and Q2E2 are each 0.19 to 0.45, and the lengths of line segments P3D3 and Q3E3 are each 0.16 to 0.45.

[0083] (2) Standard dentures for the lower jaw The points of the mandibular reference denture are p1, p2, p3, q1, q2, q3, and m, which correspond to the points P1, P2, P3, Q1, Q2, Q3, and M, which are the points for the maxilla. The length from each point to the base edge includes not only the length to the front base edge, but also the length to the rear base edge. The length to the front base edge is line segment p1d1, line segment p2d2, line segment p3d3, line segment q1e1, line segment q2e2, line segment q3e3, and line segment om, which correspond to the maxillary denture base. In addition, the length to the rear floor edge is determined by determining the points where a perpendicular line is drawn to the line segment op or line segment oq where each point exists and intersects with the rear floor edge (points b1, b2, and b3 corresponding to p1, p2, and p3, and points c1, c2, and c3 corresponding to q1, q2, and q3), and then determining the relative lengths of the line segments connecting the intersections of the floor edges on both sides of each point, i.e., line segments d1b1, d2b2, d3b3, e1c1, e2c2, and e3c3, with respect to line segment pq.

[0084] The preferred planar shape of the mandibular denture base is one in which the length of line segment om is 0.74 to 0.94, the lengths of line segments p1d1 and q1e1 are each 0.11 to 0.32, the lengths of line segments p2d2 and q2e2 are each 0.13 to 0.34, the lengths of line segments p3d3 and q3e3 are each 0.14 to 0.33, the lengths of line segments d1b1 and e1c1 are each 0.14 to 0.40, the lengths of line segments d2b2 and e2c2 are each 0.19 to 0.41, and the lengths of line segments d3b3 and e3c3 are each 0.21 to 0.42. In this case, based on the relative positions of each point, p1b1>p1d1, e1c1>q1e1, p2b2>p2d2, e2c2>q2e2, p3b3>p3d3, and e3c3>q3e3.

[0085] (7-2. About the suitable three-dimensional shape) In the reference denture of the present invention, based on the new knowledge found by the inventors that "in the pre-check, the areas that most frequently make inappropriate contact with the patient's mucosa, etc. are around the base edge in the front region of the base and around the base edge in the rear region of the base, and while the latter can be addressed by optimizing the planar shape, the former cannot be addressed by optimizing the planar shape alone," the height of the front region of the base is lowered and its thickness is thinned to a level that minimizes the occurrence of inappropriate contact areas. In the present invention, the preferred ranges of the height and width (thickness) of the base front region are defined using a specific cross section which will be described below.

[0086] (7-3. Reference cross sections for defining suitable three-dimensional shapes) In the reference denture of the present invention, one artificial tooth is focused on and defined as the reference artificial tooth. A specific point on this reference artificial tooth is defined as the reference point, and when the reference denture is placed on a plane assumed to be an occlusal plane with the artificial tooth side facing downward, the height and width (thickness) are defined based on the shape of a vertical section (hereinafter also referred to as the "reference artificial tooth vertical section") cut along a plane perpendicular to the plane and passing through the reference point of the reference artificial tooth, along the normal direction to the polished surface of the front region of the base. For example, as will be described later in detail, when the reference artificial tooth is an artificial canine, the "reference artificial tooth vertical section" of the upper reference denture is defined as the "artificial canine vertical section" (X A -X A The positional relationship between the polished surface of the front region of the base and the "artificial canine vertical section" (corresponding to the X' section) is shown in FIG. 8. B -X B The positional relationship between the polishing surface of the front region of the base and the groove (corresponding to a cross section of the groove) is as shown in FIG.

[0087] Before describing the preferred shape of the "reference artificial tooth vertical section", the "occlusal plane" will be described. First, occlusion means a state in which the upper and lower teeth are biting together, and the surface where the upper and lower teeth are in close contact is called the "occlusal plane". Generally, natural teeth are arranged with a downward convex curve (this curve is also called the curve of Spee) reflecting the shape of the jaw, so the occlusal plane also reflects this arrangement and becomes a curved surface that draws a relatively large arc when viewed from the side. The radius of curvature of the curved surface that becomes the occlusal plane is relatively large, so it can be approximated by a plane. The plane approximated in this way is the "occlusal plane".

[0088] Medically, the above-mentioned "occlusal plane" is a position parallel to a plane called "Camper's plane," which is an imaginary plane that connects the lower edge of the nasal alar and the upper edge of the tragus on both sides, and is considered to be ideally located about 20 mm (usually 18 mm to 22 mm) below the subnasal point in a direction perpendicular to the Camper's plane. Dentures are also generally adjusted in shape so that they are placed in the patient's oral cavity and the upper and lower jaw teeth (here, teeth refer to the artificial teeth fixed to the denture and the natural teeth in the case where the patient has natural teeth) are in close contact with each other as much as possible, and the above-mentioned "occlusal plane" is located at a position (hereinafter, such a position is also called "ideal position" or "medically ideal position") where the inclination of the plane from the above-mentioned position is within the range of +4° to -7.64° in elevation angle.

[0089] The "occlusal plane" (placed at an ideal position) when the denture is worn with the upper body standing upright is a plane inclined at a certain angle (depending on the individual) from the horizontal plane. Using Figs. 7, 10, and 11, the "virtual occlusal plane" PA, which is assumed to be the "occlusal plane" placed at a medically appropriate position in the patient's oral cavity, will be explained. In Fig. 7, which shows the ideal occlusal state, the plane defined by the following three points A1, A2, and A3 is the "virtual occlusal plane" PA. Here, point A1 represents the midpoint of the mesial angle of the left and right central incisors 31B1 of the mandibular reference denture 10B, point A2 represents the distal buccal cusp tip of the left second molar 31B7 of the mandibular reference denture 10B, and point A3 represents the distal buccal cusp tip of the right second molar 31B7 of the mandibular reference denture 10B.

[0090] The "occlusal plane" and the position where it should be placed ("ideal position") are strictly defined as above, but the reference denture of the present invention does not necessarily have to be a complete denture, and the upper and lower reference dentures do not necessarily have to be a set. In addition, when determining the vertical section of the reference artificial tooth, the "occlusal plane" does not have to be placed in the "ideal position", and the occlusal plane can be arbitrarily tilted as long as the relative relationship is maintained. For example, if the occlusal plane is tilted until it becomes horizontal, the vertical section of the reference artificial tooth becomes a vertical plane along the normal direction to the polished surface of the anterior region that passes through the reference point. Therefore, since all artificial teeth are in close contact with the "occlusal surface" and can be approximated by a plane (the "occlusal plane"), and since a plane can be defined by at least three points, in the present invention, for a reference denture base with three or more artificial teeth fixed, the reference artificial tooth vertical section is determined to be a vertical plane that passes through the reference point and is normal to the front polished surface when the artificial teeth are placed on a horizontal surface facing downward. Also, for a reference denture base with less than three artificial teeth, the normal attachment state is estimated, and the reference artificial tooth vertical section is determined to be a vertical plane that passes through the reference point and is normal to the front polished surface when the artificial teeth are held on a horizontal surface without changing the relative positional relationship with the "occlusal plane" at that time. Furthermore, because teeth have unevenness at their tips, and because the upper and lower teeth occlude with a slight misalignment, and because in the case of partial dentures, the slight deviation from the "occlusal plane" varies depending on their position, when an artificial tooth is placed facing down on a horizontal surface, the reference artificial tooth vertical cross-section based on that plane may deviate slightly from the reference artificial tooth vertical cross-section based on the occlusal plane; however, this deviation has almost no effect on determining the preferred three-dimensional shape described below and can be ignored.

[0091] (7-4. Preferred three-dimensional shape of the reference denture of the present invention) A suitable three-dimensional shape using the reference artificial tooth vertical section thus determined will be described with reference to Figs. 8, 10(a) and 9 and 11(a). In the reference denture of the present invention used as the reference denture member of the denture of the present invention having the canine tooth, the artificial canine tooth 31A3 is used as the reference artificial tooth, and the "artificial canine vertical section" which is the "reference artificial tooth vertical section" when the cusp 31A3p is used as the reference point, defines a suitable three-dimensional shape. The "artificial canine vertical section" is the X-section in Fig. 8. A -X A ´ Section and X in Fig. 9 B -X B The cross section corresponds to the "artificial canine vertical section", and its cross-sectional shape is shown in Fig. 10(a) and Fig. 11(a), and the width (thickness) of the base front region 2 mm below the tip of the base front region on the base edge side in the "artificial canine vertical section" is preferably 0.5 mm to 3 mm, particularly 0.5 mm to 2 mm. In addition to this, the width (thickness) of the base front region 4 mm below the tip of the base front region on the base edge side in the artificial canine vertical section is also preferably 0.5 mm to 3 mm, particularly 0.5 mm to 2 mm. By setting the width (thickness) in such a range, practical strength can be ensured and the effort of grinding the base wing in the pre-check can be further reduced.

[0092] Furthermore, in the reference denture of the present invention, it is preferable that the vertical section of the artificial canine satisfies the following conditions depending on whether it is a maxillary reference denture or a mandibular reference denture.

[0093] (7-5. About the preferable three-dimensional shape of the upper jaw reference denture of this invention) That is, as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 10(a), when the reference denture of the present invention is a reference denture for the upper jaw, first, the vertical section of the artificial canine (X in FIG. 8) A -X AThe height difference (sometimes abbreviated as "LA1") between the edging side tip of the base front region and the reference point (cusp 31A3p of artificial canine 31A3) in FIG. 11 corresponds to the cross section of the base 10 is preferably 13 mm to 20 mm, and more preferably 15 mm to 17 mm. Note that the height difference is based on the occlusal plane PA and is measured in the direction perpendicular to the occlusal plane PA, and this point is the same for other height differences that define a suitable three-dimensional shape.

[0094] Secondly, from the viewpoint that the adjustment margin in the relatively anterior portion of the base palate base can be increased, making inappropriate contact less likely to occur, the height difference (sometimes abbreviated as "LA2") between the highest point HA of the base palate base and the reference point (cusp 31A3p of artificial canine 31A3) on the vertical cross section of the artificial canine is preferably 10 mm to 16 mm, and more preferably 13 mm to 15 mm.

[0095] Thirdly, the minimum thickness of the base palate plate is preferably 0.5 mm to 3 mm, and more preferably 0.5 mm to 2 mm.

[0096] As shown in Fig. 8 and Fig. 10(b), in the reference denture of the present invention used as the reference denture member of the denture of the present invention, which is the canine-first molar-containing form and the complete denture (complete denture), in addition to satisfying the conditions in the artificial canine vertical section, the artificial first molar 31A6 is set as the reference artificial tooth, and the "artificial first molar vertical section" (Y in Fig. 8) is set as the "reference artificial tooth vertical section" when the mesial buccal cusp apex 31A6p of the artificial first molar 31A6 is set as the reference point. A -Y A It is preferable that the cross section (corresponding to the cross section) satisfies the following conditions:

[0097] That is, fourthly, the height difference (sometimes abbreviated as "LA3") between the base edge side tip of the base anterior region and the reference point (the mesial buccal cusp apex 31A6p of the artificial first molar 31A6) on the vertical cross section of the artificial first molar is preferably 11 mm to 16 mm, and more preferably 12 mm to 14 mm.

[0098] Fifth, from the viewpoint that the adjustment allowance in the relatively posterior portion of the base palate base can be increased, making inappropriate contact less likely to occur, the height difference (sometimes abbreviated as "LA4") between the highest point HA' of the base palate base and the reference point (the mesial buccal cusp apex 31A6p of the artificial first molar 31A6) on the vertical cross section of the artificial first molar is preferably 11 mm to 18 mm, and more preferably 15 mm to 17 mm.

[0099] (7-6. Preferred three-dimensional shape of the mandibular reference denture of the present invention) When the reference denture of the present invention is a lower jaw reference denture, as shown in Figs. 9 and 11(a), the vertical section of the artificial canine (X in Fig. 9) B -X B In the cross section (corresponding to FIG. 1), the height difference (sometimes abbreviated as "LB1") between the end of the base front region on the dental rim side and the reference point (the tip 31B3p of the artificial canine 31B3) is preferably 13 mm to 18 mm, and more preferably 15 mm to 17 mm.

[0100] Secondly, from the viewpoint that the adjustment allowance in the relatively forward portion of the base lingual wing portion is increased and inappropriate contact is less likely to occur, the height difference (sometimes abbreviated as "LB2") between the rim side tip HB of the base lingual wing portion and the reference point on the vertical cross section of the artificial canine is preferably 9 mm to 13 mm, and more preferably 10 mm to 12 mm.

[0101] Thirdly, as shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 11(b), the vertical section of the artificial first molar (Y in FIG. 9) B -Y BIn the cross section (corresponding to FIG. 1), the height difference (sometimes abbreviated as "LB3") between the base edge side tip of the base front region and the reference point (the mesial buccal cusp 31B6p of the artificial first molar 31B6) is preferably 11 mm to 15 mm, and more preferably 12 mm to 14 mm.

[0102] Fourthly, from the viewpoint that the adjustment allowance in the relatively posterior portion of the base lingual wing portion is increased and inappropriate contact is less likely to occur, the height difference (sometimes abbreviated as "LB4") between the rim side tip HB' of the base lingual wing portion and the reference point on the vertical cross section of the artificial first molar is preferably 11 mm to 17 mm, and more preferably 14 mm to 16 mm.

[0103] (7-7. About a suitable three-dimensional shape when it has a suitable planar shape) As described above, the reference denture of the present invention preferably has a planar shape as described in Patent Document 2. In this case, for LA1-LA4 and LB1-LB4, the length of the line segment PQ (pq), which is the reference length described in Patent Document 2, is set to 1, and for the mandibular reference denture, the length of the line segment pq is set to 1, and the suitable lengths of LA1-LA4 and LB1-LB4 are listed in the order of preferred range for the reference denture of the present invention; more preferred range, as follows: LA1: 0.28~0.50; 0.32~0.43 LA2: 0.21~0.40; 0.28~0.38 LA3: 0.23~0.40; 0.26~0.35 LA4: 0.23~0.45; 0.32~0.43 LB1: 0.21~0.35; 0.25~0.33 LB2: 0.15~0.25; 0.16~0.24 LB3: 0.18~0.29; 0.20~0.27 LB4: 0.18~0.33; 0.23~0.31

[0104] [8. Production method of the present invention] In the manufacturing method of the present invention, the denture of the present invention is manufactured. The reference denture base member in the denture of the present invention manufactured at this time has a standardized predetermined shape (a mass-produced predetermined shape) or a shape substantially identical to the said shape, and the adjustment member preferably has a shape adjusted according to the shape of the patient's oral cavity so that, when the denture is worn in the oral cavity of an individual patient who will be the wearer, the "occlusal plane" determined from the "occlusal surface" where the teeth of the upper and lower jaws (here, the teeth mean the artificial teeth fixed to the denture and the natural teeth in the case where the patient has natural teeth) are in close contact with each other is positioned at a position that should be medically present in the oral cavity of the patient.

[0105] The first feature of the production method of the present invention is that it includes, as basic steps, the following (A) reference denture preparation step, (B) reference denture determination step, (C) building up and transferring step, and (D) hardening step. (A) A reference denture preparation step for preparing a reference denture which will be a reference denture part having a reference denture base member and artificial teeth. (B) A reference denture determination process in which the reference denture is positioned at an appropriate position on a virtual occlusal plane, which is assumed to be the occlusal plane positioned at a position medically necessary in the patient's oral cavity, and the reference denture is either (1) inserted into the patient's oral cavity to confirm the contact state between the mucosa in the patient's oral cavity and the reference denture, or (2) inserted into an articulator to which a model of the patient's oral cavity is attached to confirm the contact state between the model of the patient's oral cavity and the reference denture. If inappropriate contact occurs in use, a reference denture having a different shape that does not cause the inappropriate contact is selected, or the shape of the reference denture base member of the reference denture is fine-tuned so that there is no contact, thereby determining the shape of the reference denture to be used. (C) a building and transfer process in which unhardened hardenable denture base material for forming the adjustment member is built up on the mucosal surface of the reference denture base member of the reference denture determined to be used in the reference denture determination process, and then the reference denture on which the hardenable denture base material has been built up is positioned at an appropriate position in the patient's oral cavity or on the virtual occlusal plane in the articulator, and the shape of the mucosa in the patient's oral cavity or the shape of the patient's oral cavity model is transferred to the hardenable denture base material and excess hardenable denture base material is removed by performing edge formation. (D) A hardening step for hardening the hardenable denture base material that has been subjected to the building-up and transfer steps.

[0106] The second feature of the production method of the present invention is that the (C) building-up / transferring step and the (D) hardening step each include a plurality of steps, specifically, the following steps (C1), (C2), (C3), (D1), (D2), and (D3).

[0107] [Steps (C1), (C2) and (C3) included in the (C) Building-up and Transferring Step] (C1) A central building-up / transfer step of building up unhardened hardenable denture base material in a base central region of the reference denture base member to transfer the shape of the patient's oral cavity or the patient's oral cavity model. (C2) An anterior build-up / transfer process in which unhardened hardenable denture base material is built up on the base anterior region of the reference denture base member to transfer the shape of the patient's oral cavity or the patient's oral cavity model and extend it beyond the base edge to form a margin. (C3) A posterior building / transfer process in which unhardened hardenable denture base material is built up on the posterior base region of the reference denture base member to transfer the shape of the patient's oral cavity or the patient's oral cavity model and extend it beyond the base edge to form a margin.

[0108] In the production method of the present invention, the (D) curing step includes the following steps (D1), (D2), and (D3). However, as described below, these steps do not necessarily have to be performed separately, and two or three steps may be performed simultaneously. [Steps (D1), (D2) and (D3) included in the (D) curing step] (D1) A step of hardening the hardenable denture base material that has been subjected to the central build-up and transfer step. (D2) A step of hardening the hardenable denture base material that has been subjected to the anterior build-up and transfer step. (D3) A step of hardening the hardenable denture base material that has been subjected to the posterior building-up and transfer step.

[0109] The third feature of the manufacturing method of the present invention is that the plurality of steps included in the (C) building-up and transfer step are carried out in a specific order in multiple stages. That is, the step (C1) is carried out, followed by the steps (C2) and (C3). The (C2) front building-up and transfer step and the (C3) rear building-up and transfer step hardening step may be carried out simultaneously or separately.

[0110] In each of steps (C1) to (C3), when transferring the shape of the mucosa in the patient's oral cavity or the shape of the patient's oral cavity model, it is necessary to place the reference denture built up with uncured hardenable denture base material in an appropriate position on a plane assumed to be the occlusal plane. In the first step (C1), the mucosal surface in the base central region has the advantage of being easy to position due to its small radius of curvature, but it is prone to vertical deviations from front to back with this part as a fulcrum when even a small force is applied. For this reason, in order to suppress the occurrence of such deviations and to position the denture in the appropriate position with high accuracy, it is preferable to use the positioning jig 200 as shown in Figure 6 described above.

[0111] In addition, when the upper and lower dentures are made as a set, it is preferable to build up an uncured hardenable denture base material on the mucous membrane surface of the central region of the base for either the upper or lower jaw, hold the reference denture on which the hardenable denture base material has been built up in the positioning jig 200, and then insert it into the patient's oral cavity or the articulator, and hold it in the appropriate position to perform the transfer in step (C1). From the viewpoint of reproducing the relationship between the upper and lower jaws, it is more preferable to hold only the upper reference denture in the positioning jig 200 and transfer it when making the upper denture first, and to hold the upper reference denture and the lower reference denture simultaneously (as a set) in the positioning jig 200 and transfer it when transferring the lower reference denture that is to be performed next. In addition, it does not matter which of the upper and lower dentures is made first.

[0112] In addition, since the alignment (holding in the appropriate position) in step (C2) and / or step (C3) after the completion of step (C1) is facilitated with less deviation, an experienced person can perform the alignment separately for the upper and lower jaws without using an alignment jig. Also, even if the person is not an experienced person, high-precision transfer can be easily performed by using the alignment jig 200. At this time, step (C2) and / or step (C3) may be performed by holding either the reference denture for the upper or lower jaw, but in order to perform the transfer with more certainty and high precision, it is preferable to perform the steps by holding both reference dentures in the alignment jig 200.

[0113] The (D) hardening step may be carried out individually after the completion of each of the building-up and transfer steps, that is, the hardening steps (D1) to (D3) corresponding to the building-up and transfer steps, or may be carried out simultaneously after the completion of all the building-up and transfer steps corresponding to the completed building-up and transfer steps. For example, when steps (C2) and (C3) are carried out after the completion of steps (C1) and (D1), the hardening step (D2) and the hardening step (D3) may be carried out simultaneously after the completion of both building-up and transfer steps, or may be carried out individually after the completion of each building-up and transfer step. In addition, steps (C2) and (C3) may be carried out without carrying out step (D1) after the completion of step (C1), and then steps (D1), (D2) and (D3) may be carried out simultaneously in one go.

[0114] In the above-mentioned manufacturing method of the present invention, when the shape of the hardenable denture base material is adjusted to the shape of the adjustment member, the step (C1) may be carried out as the first time, and thereafter, the building up and transferring steps (C1) to (C3) may be repeated multiple times.

[0115] In addition, after completion of the anterior building up and transfer process and the posterior building up and transfer process, the method may further include a wash process in which the unhardened hardenable denture base material is added onto the mucosal surface of the reference denture base to correct the shape of the mucosal surface. The above-mentioned washing step can be carried out, for example, after the anterior building-up and transfer step and the posterior building-up and transfer step are completed and before the final hardening step is performed, or after the hardening steps (D1), (D2) and (D3) are completed, by adding a small amount of the hardenable denture base material in an unhardened state onto the mucosal side surface of the reference denture base, and then slightly modifying the shape to obtain a better fit before hardening.

[0116] In the manufacturing method of the present invention, in the (B) reference denture determination process, the reference denture part is inserted into the patient's oral cavity or into an articulator to which a model of the patient's oral cavity is attached so as to be positioned at an appropriate position on a plane assumed to be the occlusal plane, and in the (C) building up and transferring process, the reference denture part on which hardenable denture base material for the specified adjustment parts has been built up at specified locations on the reference denture base part is placed in the patient's oral cavity or in the articulator at an appropriate position on the plane assumed to be the occlusal plane.

[0117] In this case, from the viewpoint of not needing to produce a patient's intraoral model, which requires time and effort to manufacture, it is preferable to insert it into the patient's oral cavity. However, when producing dentures for a large number of patients at a dental laboratory or the like, although it takes time and effort to produce a patient's intraoral model, it is preferable to use an articulator with a patient's intraoral model attached, as this allows a large number of dentures to be produced in parallel at one time.

[0118] In this case, the articulator is not particularly limited as long as it reproduces various positions of jaw movement and occlusion on the model. For example, the articulator may be a condylar-type articulator that reproduces the movement path of the mandibular head during jaw movement, a non-accommodative articulator (average articulator) or an accommodative articulator (fully accommodative articulator, semi-accommodative articulator), an Alcon type in which the position of the condylar ball corresponding to the mandibular head is different and the condylar ball is connected to the lower arch, a Condylar type in which the condylar ball is connected to the upper arch, a non-condylar type articulator that does not reproduce the movement path of the mandibular head but can open and close up and down, etc. can be used as the articulator. In addition, the patient's intraoral model can be made according to steps 1 and 2 of the customization method.

[0119] The (B) reference denture determination step corresponds to the above-mentioned pre-check, and in the method of the present invention, when the reference denture of the present invention is used as the reference denture part, the frequency of cases where adjustment by grinding is required in this step is low (see "Non-elevation rate" described below), and in most cases the reference denture of the present invention can be used as is as the reference denture part. Even if adjustment by grinding is required, the amount of grinding is extremely small. This greatly improves the production efficiency.

[0120] As described above as the third feature, the method of the present invention first performs rough positioning by adapting the mucosal surface of the central region of the base. Next, the mucosal surfaces of the anterior part (anterior region of the base) and posterior part (posterior region of the base) are adapted and the margins (base edges) are formed and adapted under conditions with little variation, so that even those without skilled techniques can easily perform highly accurate positioning. Moreover, the height of the anterior wing part of the reference denture base and the length of the posterior part of the reference denture base can be compensated (extended) with hardening denture base material such as a lining material to adapt the boundary with the patient's mucosa so that it becomes natural.

[0121] When the method for making a denture of the present invention is a method for making a denture of the present invention which is a denture for the upper jaw, in the (A) reference denture preparation step, it is sufficient to prepare the reference denture for the upper jaw as a ready-made reference denture that will serve as a reference denture part; when the method for making a denture of the present invention is a method for making a denture of the present invention which is a denture for the lower jaw, it is sufficient to prepare the reference denture for the lower jaw as a ready-made reference denture that will serve as a reference denture part in the (A) reference denture preparation step.

[0122] The step (A) in the denture fabrication method of the present invention is simply a step of preparing a reference denture as a component. Therefore, steps (B), (C) and (D) will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings for an example in which a set of upper and lower dentures are fabricated using a set of upper and lower reference dentures that correspond to complete dentures (full dentures). Note that the fabrication method of the present invention is not limited to such an example.

[0123] (B: Reference denture determination process) The above-mentioned maxillary reference denture 10A and / or mandibular reference denture 10B are positioned at appropriate positions on a virtual occlusal plane PA (see Figure 7), which is assumed to be the occlusal plane positioned at a position that should medically be present in the patient's oral cavity, and an articulator 100 such as that shown in Figure 5 is used to confirm the contact state between the patient's oral cavity model 150 and the maxillary reference denture 10A and the mandibular reference denture 10B (hereinafter, confirmation of the contact state using such an articulator is also referred to as "elevation confirmation").

[0124] 5 shows a state where a patient's intraoral model 150, specifically, a patient's intraoral model 150 consisting of an upper jaw model 151 and a lower jaw model 152, is attached to an articulator 100. When inserting the upper jaw reference denture 10A and the lower jaw reference denture 10B into the articulator 100 in a state where the patient's intraoral model 150 shown in FIG. 5 is attached, and checking the contact state between the patient's intraoral model 150 and the upper jaw reference denture 10A and the lower jaw reference denture 10B (checking the elevation), it is preferable to use a positioning jig 200 as shown in FIG. 6.

[0125] The alignment jig 200 is provided with a reference denture holding portion 201 and a handle portion 202 connected to the reference denture holding portion 201. The reference denture holding portion 201 is provided with an upper denture holding recess 201A for holding the upper reference denture 10A and a lower denture holding recess 201B for holding the lower reference denture 10B. The handle portion 202 has a certain length so that a dental technician, dentist, or the like can easily operate it when setting the upper reference denture 10A and the lower reference denture 10B from outside the articulator 100 or outside the patient's oral cavity. Therefore, an operator such as a dental technician can easily use the handle portion 202 to place the upper reference denture 10A and / or the lower reference denture 10B at an appropriate position on the virtual occlusal plane PA (see FIG. 7). For the same reason, it is preferable to use the alignment jig 200 when inserting it into the patient's oral cavity to check the contact state.

[0126] In the above-mentioned elevation check, the upper and lower reference dentures 10A and 10B are engaged on the virtual occlusal plane PA (see FIG. 5), and the contact state can be evaluated by the amount of lift (also called the "elevation value") of the guide pins 101 of the articulator 100 when the upper and lower reference dentures 10A and 10B are stationary. Specifically, if the amount of lift (elevation value) is 0 mm or less, it is evaluated that there is no inappropriate contact, and grinding adjustment is not necessary, and the working time for grinding can be reduced. On the other hand, if the lift value exceeds 0 mm, it is evaluated that there is inappropriate contact, and the larger the value, the larger the amount of grinding adjustment required by grinding. For this reason, the amount of lift (elevation value) of the guide pins 101 that is 0 mm or less is deemed to be acceptable, and the next step is advanced to. Note that the amount (elevation value) being less than 0 mm does not mean that the position of the guide pins 101 is lowered, but means that there is a gap between the reference denture and the model. The gap at this time will be filled with an adjustment member in a later process.

[0127] Here, when a lifting check is performed using the reference denture for the upper jaw 10A of the present invention and the reference denture for the lower jaw 10B of the present invention, which satisfy the dimensional requirements as described above, the amount of lifting of the above-mentioned guide pin 101 is less than 0 mm or requires only slight grinding.

[0128] In the above description, the elevation check is performed using the articulator 100. However, it is also possible to directly insert the maxillary reference denture 10A and the mandibular reference denture 10B into the patient's oral cavity without using the articulator 100 to place them at appropriate positions on the virtual occlusal plane PA (see FIG. 7), and check the contact state between the mucous membrane in the patient's oral cavity and the maxillary reference denture 10A and the mandibular reference denture 10B. Checking this contact state also corresponds to the (B) reference denture determination step.

[0129] In the (B) reference denture determining step, the upper jaw reference denture 10A and the lower jaw reference denture 10B are held in an alignment jig 200 as shown in Fig. 6. However, without using the alignment jig 200 as described above, the upper jaw reference denture 10A and the lower jaw reference denture 10B may be set in the articulator 100, or the upper jaw reference denture 10A and the lower jaw reference denture 10B may be set in the patient's oral cavity.

[0130] Furthermore, in this (B) reference denture determination process, if the actual occlusal surface deviates from the appropriate position when checking the contact condition as described above, the reference dentures (upper reference denture 10A and lower reference denture 10B) may be adjusted by grinding to position them in the appropriate position, or another reference denture that does not cause the above-mentioned positional deviation may be selected.

[0131] (C: Build-up and transfer process) In this process, an unhardened hardenable denture base material for forming the adjustment member is built up on the mucosal surface of the reference denture base member of the reference denture determined to be used in the (B) Reference Denture Determination Process, for example, the maxillary reference denture base 20A of the maxillary reference denture 10A. The building up of the hardenable denture base material is usually performed by removing the upper and lower reference dentures 10A and 10B from the alignment jig 200, but it may be performed while they are still set in the alignment jig 200. As described above, this process includes (C1), (C2), and (C3), and the contents and order of execution thereof are as already explained.

[0132] In the building-up and transfer process, the built-up hardenable denture base material is made to have the shape of the adjustment member. For example, the upper jaw reference denture 10A and the lower jaw reference denture 10B on which the hardenable denture base material is built up are set again on the alignment jig 200, which is then placed at an appropriate position in the articulator 100. Thereafter, the denture base material is pressed against the upper jaw model 151 and the lower jaw model 152, and the shapes of the upper jaw model 151 and the lower jaw model 152 are transferred to the hardenable denture base material while the upper jaw reference denture 10A and the lower jaw reference denture 10B are in an occlusal state. After the transfer, the upper jaw reference denture 10A and the lower jaw reference denture 10B are taken out once from the articulator 100 while the upper jaw reference denture 10A and the lower jaw reference denture 10B are still set on the alignment jig 200. Thereafter, excess hardenable denture base material is removed from the upper and lower reference dentures 10A, 10B.

[0133] At this time, the upper jaw reference denture 10A and the lower jaw reference denture 10B, which are built up with the hardenable denture base material, may be directly pressed against the patient's oral cavity using the positioning jig 200, without using the articulator 100, to transfer the shape of the patient's oral cavity. Also, these operations can be performed without using the positioning jig 200.

[0134] (D: hardening process) In this process, the hardenable denture base material that has been shaped into the adjustment member in the (C) building-up and transferring process is hardened to form the adjustment member, and the adjustment member is integrated with the reference denture base member. The polymerization hardening is appropriately determined according to the type of polymerization initiator contained in the hardenable denture base material. For example, in the case of a photopolymerization type using a photopolymerization initiator, the denture base material can be hardened by irradiating it with light such as ultraviolet light that activates the initiator. In the case of a thermal polymerization type using a thermal polymerization initiator, the denture base material can be hardened by heating. In the case of a chemical polymerization type using a chemical polymerization initiator, the denture base material can be hardened by leaving it for a predetermined time. By going through each of the steps as described above, a denture using the upper jaw reference denture 10A and the lower jaw reference denture 10B can be manufactured. EXAMPLES

[0135] In order to specifically explain the present invention, examples and comparative examples will be given, but the present invention is not limited to these in any way. [1. About the denture of the present invention and the reference denture of the present invention] Examples 1 to 12 and Comparative Examples 1 to 2 (1) Fabrication of reference dentures A reference denture base having the surface shape shown in Table 1 and the partial cross-sectional shape shown in Table 2 was produced by injection molding polymethyl methacrylate resin using a plaster mold produced by the lost wax method. Next, artificial teeth were arranged on each of the produced reference denture bases to produce complete denture-type reference dentures for the upper jaw and lower jaw. In Table 2, symbols such as OM, P1D1, etc. refer to the respective line segments explained in (7-1. Preferred Planar Shape), and the numerical value in each symbol column refers to the relative length of the line segment of the symbol (the length when the length of line segment PQ or line segment pq is set to 1). Also, LA1 to LA4 and LB1 to LB4 in Table 3 conform to the definitions in (7-5 ​​and 7-6. Preferred Three-Dimensional Shapes of the Maxillary Reference Denture and Mandibular Reference Denture of the Present Invention). Also, thickness refers to the minimum thickness of the base palate plate portion 20A3 of the maxillary reference denture. [Table 1] [Table 2]

[0136] As will be described later, dentures made using the reference dentures of Comparative Examples 1 and 2 do not fall under the category of dentures of the present invention.

[0137] (2) Manufacturing of dentures (2-1) Preparation of the patient's oral model Twenty types (20 sets) of "patient intraoral models consisting of sets of upper and lower jaw models of edentulous jaws" with different shapes were prepared. Table 3 shows the state of variation in shapes for the upper and lower jaw patient intraoral models of the above 20 types (sets) of patient intraoral models. [Table 3]

[0138] The variation shown in Table 3 is shown as the minimum value: min (mm), maximum value: max (mm), and standard deviation of the "anterior alveolar crest height" and "molar alveolar crest height" of each patient's intraoral model, as well as the line segment PQ (for the maxillary model) or line segment pq (for the mandibular model) described in "7-1. Suitable Planar Shape". Here, "alveolar crest height" means the vertical distance from the alveolar crest to the occlusal plane. In the maxillary model, the alveolar crest height in the anterior third of the distance from the "most anterior part of the incisive papilla" to the "intersection of the line connecting the left pterygomaxillary notch and the right pterygomaxillary notch with the median palatine raphe" is defined as the "anterior alveolar crest height", and the alveolar crest height in the posterior third is defined as the "molar alveolar crest height". In addition, for the mandibular model, the distance from the "midline of the alveolar crest" to the "intersection of the line connecting the anterior edge of the left retromolar ridge and the anterior edge of the right retromolar ridge and the midline" is divided into thirds, and the alveolar crest height in the anterior third is defined as the "anterior alveolar crest height," and the alveolar crest height in the posterior third is defined as the "molar alveolar crest height."

[0139] (2-2) Fabrication of dentures Using the reference dentures of each embodiment and each comparative example listed in Tables 1 and 2, a total of 20 sets of dentures were fabricated to fit the 20 sets of patient intraoral models in each example. Specifically, an articulator shown in FIG. 5 was prepared as an articulator, an alignment jig shown in FIG. 6 was prepared as an alignment jig, and 20 types (20 sets) of "patient intraoral models consisting of sets of upper and lower jaw models of edentulous jaws" with different shapes as shown in Table 3 were prepared as the patient intraoral models. Next, one of the 20 sets of patient intraoral models was set in the articulator, and a denture fitting this patient intraoral model was fabricated as follows.

[0140] That is, since the reference denture to be used has already been prepared, first the reference denture for the upper jaw is held in the positioning jig to check for inappropriate contact, and if inappropriate contact is found (determined to be inappropriate), grinding adjustment is performed using a handy grinder until it is eliminated (until it becomes appropriate) (B Reference Denture Decision Step). After that, the reference denture decision step (B) is performed in the same manner for the lower jaw. Next, unhardened hardenable denture base material is built up on the mucous membrane surface in the base central region of the reference denture for the upper jaw, and only the reference denture for the upper jaw obtained after the building up is held in the positioning jig and then inserted into the articulator, and the transfer of step (C1) is performed while it is held in the appropriate position. Then, the uncured hardenable denture base material was built up on the mucous membrane surface of the central region of the base for the lower jaw reference denture as well, and the lower jaw reference denture obtained after the building up and the upper jaw reference denture already transferred were held in the positioning jig at the same time (as a set), and then inserted into the articulator, and held in the appropriate position, and transfer in step (C1) was performed. After the transfer in step (C1) was performed in this manner, (C2) and (C3) were performed without performing step (D1). At this time, in (C2) and (C3), the upper and lower jaws were separately inserted into the articulator using the positioning jig, and transferred and edge formation was performed while being held in the appropriate position. Then, after the wash step, finally, in step (D), all the hardenable denture base materials (light-curing lining material: Tokuso Light Rebase, manufactured by Tokuyama Dental Co., Ltd.) were hardened at once to prepare a set of upper and lower dentures. The same procedure was repeated for other intraoral casts of other patients, and finally, 20 sets of dentures for the upper and lower jaws that fit all 20 sets of intraoral casts of the patients were produced by the production method of the present invention.

[0141] In Examples 1 to 12, dentures of the present invention were prepared in which the front edge side tip area of ​​the entire area of ​​the base edge in the front region was composed of the front adjustment member, and the rear edge side tip area of ​​the entire area of ​​the base edge in the rear region was composed of the rear adjustment member. In contrast, in Comparative Examples 1 and 2, dentures were manufactured using the manufacturing method of the present invention, but in the (B) reference denture determination step, "inappropriate contact" was confirmed near the base edge of the front region of the base, so grinding adjustment was performed to manufacture the dentures. The base edge of the front region of the manufactured dentures was composed of the reference denture, and the front adjustment member was not exposed on the polished surface of the front wing part. For this reason, the dentures manufactured in Comparative Examples 1 to 2 do not correspond to the dentures of the present invention, and therefore the reference dentures of Comparative Examples 1 to 2 do not correspond to the reference dentures of the present invention.

[0142] (3) Evaluation of the reference denture and dentures In the denture manufacturing process, the compatibility (non-elevation rate and compatibility rate) of the reference denture used with the patient's intraoral model, the manufacturing time and adjustment time were evaluated, and the proportion of the anterior adjustment member on the polished surface of the ``canine anterior wing portion'' of the obtained denture (hereinafter simply referred to as the ``height adjustment allowance rate'') (%) was evaluated. Each evaluation item will be explained below.

[0143] <Evaluation of non-elevation rate> The non-elevation rate is an index showing the "low occurrence frequency" of cases in which it is found that adjustment by grinding is necessary because there is a part that makes an inappropriate contact with the mucous membrane, etc., that causes pain to the patient, in the (B) reference denture determination step of the denture manufacturing method of the present invention. In this embodiment (Examples 1 to 12) and the comparative examples (Comparative Examples 1 and 2), as a realistic test method (a method that does not require the cooperation of many patients), the non-elevation rate is the occurrence rate of cases that pass the (B) reference denture determination step (evaluation by measuring the elevation value) using an articulator for the 20 types (20 pairs) of "patient oral models consisting of sets of edentulous maxillary and mandibular models" that are different in shape and are considered to be able to reflect the diversity of patients.

[0144] The non-elevation rate can be said to be an evaluation index reflecting the universality, which is an index showing how applicable a set (combination) of a pair of standard upper and lower dentures to be evaluated can be to a variety of patients (in other words, an index evaluating the breadth of the range of suitability for various patients). The higher the non-elevation rate, the higher the universality (the wider the range of suitability for various patients), and a value of 80% or higher is considered high, with 90% or higher being even more preferable, and 100% being the most preferable.

[0145] The evaluation by the elevation value measurement was performed as follows. That is, first, a patient's intraoral model 150 consisting of a pair of upper jaw model 151 and lower jaw model 152 of an edentulous jaw, which were randomly selected from 20 types (20 pairs) of different shapes, was attached to an articulator 100 as shown in Fig. 5. After that, the upper jaw reference denture and the lower jaw reference denture were held in a positioning jig 200 as shown in Fig. 6 so as to be in an appropriate occlusal state. Next, this was inserted into the articulator 100 while maintaining the occlusal state, and the amount of lift (elevation value) of the guide pin 101 was measured when it was positioned to occlude on the occlusal plane PA, and the pass / fail evaluation was performed by demoting the cases where the measured elevation value was 0 mm or less. After completing the evaluation of one set of patient's intraoral casts 150 in this manner, the patient's intraoral casts 150 held in the alignment jig 200 were replaced with any one set selected from the remaining 19 sets, and a pass / fail evaluation was performed in the same manner. This evaluation was then repeated, and finally, a pass / fail evaluation was performed on all sets (20 sets), and the non-elevation rate was calculated based on the results.

[0146] <Regarding the evaluation of conformity rate> The suitability rate is an index representing the frequency of occurrence of cases that are judged to be "suitable" when determining suitability based on whether or not a reference denture built up with the hardenable denture base material by the (C) building up and transferring process of the denture manufacturing method of the present invention can be placed in an appropriate position within the articulator 100 in which the patient's intraoral model 150 is set.

[0147] In this embodiment (Examples 1 to 12), 20 types (20 sets) of patient intraoral casts 150 with different shapes were used, and it was examined whether they could be arranged at an appropriate position (on the occlusal plane PA) in the same way as in the measurement of the non-elevation rate. However, in order to reduce the influence of the three-dimensional shape and to see the influence of the planar shape, the upper jaw reference denture and the lower jaw reference denture were evaluated individually, not in an occlusal state. Specifically, the upper jaw reference denture (or the lower jaw reference denture) made of a hardening denture base material built up on the upper jaw model 151 (or the lower jaw model 152) attached to the articulator 100 was inserted individually using a positioning jig 200 as shown in FIG. 6 into the articulator 100 in which the patient intraoral cast 150 consisting of the upper jaw model 151 and the lower jaw model 152 of an edentulous jaw was set, and it was determined whether they could be arranged at an appropriate position. This operation was performed for 20 types of patient intraoral casts 150, and the ratio of the number of models that could be arranged was determined as the conformity rate.

[0148] <Production time:t P About the evaluation> The fabrication time was calculated as follows. First, as a reference example, 20 types (20 sets) of dentures with different shapes that fit the patient's intraoral model 150 were fabricated by the customization method, and the time (minutes) required to fabricate each denture was measured. Based on the measured values, the average time (minutes) required to fabricate one denture was calculated, and this was defined as t P-Cust Next, 20 types (20 sets) of dentures different in shape were fabricated to fit the patient's intraoral model 150 using the upper jaw reference dentures and lower jaw reference dentures in each Example and Comparative Example, and the average time (minutes) required to fabricate one denture was calculated in the same manner for each Example and Comparative Example, and this was designated as t P-Exp And then, t P-Exp A P-Cust Percentage normalized by: (t P-Exp / t P-Cust The lower the value, the shorter the denture fabrication time compared to the customized method.

[0149] In the manufacturing method of the present invention in the examples, steps (B) and (C) are performed by inserting the patient's intraoral model. Therefore, the time required to manufacture the patient's intraoral model (corresponding to the time required for step 1 "taking an impression of the patient's intraoral cavity using an impression material" and step 2 "making a plaster model using the impression" in the customization method) is approximately equal to the above-mentioned t P-Cust and t P-Exp In the method of the present invention, when steps (B) and (C) are directly inserted into the patient's oral cavity, the time required for making a model of the patient's oral cavity is not required, and therefore the time required for making a model of the patient's oral cavity is not required. P-Exp In this case, the effect of the present invention becomes more remarkable. In order to eliminate the influence of differences in the planar shape of the reference dentures and confirm the effects of differences in three-dimensional shape, it is necessary to compare the preparation time between reference dentures having the same planar shape (e.g., Examples 1 to 10 and Comparative Example 2).

[0150] <Adjustment time:t A About the evaluation> The adjustment time was calculated as follows: When dentures were made to fit the 20 types (20 sets) of patient intraoral models 150, each having a different shape, using the upper and lower reference dentures, the adjustment time was determined to be the average time required until the dentures were judged to be suitable in the reference denture determination step (B) (if the dentures were found to be unsuitable, grinding adjustment was performed, and the reference denture determination step was performed again, and this process was repeated until the dentures were suitable).

[0151] The adjustment time was evaluated by comparing the adjustment time (min) in Comparative Example 1 with the reference time t A-S The adjustment time (min) in each Example and Comparative Example 2 is t A-Exp And then, t A-Exp The reference time t A-S Percentage normalized by: (t A-Exp / t A-S The evaluation was made based on the following formula: ) × 100 (%). The lower the adjustment time, the shorter the denture preparation time was compared to Comparative Example 1.

[0152] In addition, in order to eliminate the influence of differences in the planar shape of the reference dentures on the adjustment time and to confirm the effect of differences in the three-dimensional shape, it is necessary to compare reference dentures having the same planar shape (for example, Examples 1 to 10 and Comparative Example 2). Furthermore, even for reference dentures having the same planar shape, the adjustment time is influenced by differences in their three-dimensional shapes, and this influence on the adjustment time is also reflected in the fabrication time.

[0153] <Evaluation of height adjustment fee rate> The height adjustment allowance is an index showing whether there is an adjustment allowance for adding an adjustment member when dentures that fit the 20 types (20 sets) of patient intraoral models 150, each having a different shape, are made using the upper and lower reference dentures. In this embodiment and comparative example, the ratio of the height of the adjustment member to the height of the canine anterior wing of the reference denture is taken as the height adjustment allowance.

[0154] The evaluation of the height adjustment rate is based on the height (mm) from the denture neck to the base edge. S The height difference (mm) between the base edge of the reference denture and the base edge of the denture is the height of the adjustment member h Adj And the height of the adjustment member h Adj The reference height h S Percentage normalized by: (h Adj / h S The evaluation was done by dividing the total number of dentures by the total number of teeth. The smaller the height adjustment allowance rate, the less adjustment allowance there was, and 0% means that the height was adjusted by grinding down the standard denture. The evaluation results obtained are shown in Table 4. [Table 4]

[0155] As shown in Table 4, in Examples 1 to 12, reference dentures having the shapes shown in Tables 1 and 2 were fabricated, and the fitting rate, non-elevation rate, fabrication time, adjustment time, and height adjustment rate were evaluated. As shown in Table 4, the evaluation results were good.

[0156] On the other hand, in Comparative Example 1, in which dentures were made by the customization method to fit one patient's oral cavity model randomly selected from the 20 sets, and these dentures were used as reference dentures to make dentures for 20 people. Unlike the Examples, no adjustment allowance was provided, so inappropriate contact was unavoidable with the 19 sets of patient's oral cavity models, and the reference dentures, which were taller and thicker, had to be ground down to fit the oral cavity. As a result, the height adjustment allowance rate was 0%, and both the adjustment time and making time were considerably long.

[0157] In addition, in Comparative Example 2, in which the planar shape was the same as in Example 1 but the denture was made using a tall and thick reference denture, there was almost no adjustment margin and the denture came into contact with the patient's intraoral model. For this reason, it was necessary to grind down the tall and thick reference denture to fit the oral cavity, resulting in a height adjustment margin of 0%, and the adjustment time and production time were both significantly longer than in Example 1. The reference example shows the time required to create dentures using a customization method to fit one set of patient intraoral casts randomly selected from the 2,020 sets of patient intraoral casts.

[0158] 2. About the manufacturing method of the present invention Examples 1 to 12 As described above, Examples 1 to 12 are examples of dentures made by the manufacturing method of the present invention, in which the (C) building-up and transfer steps are divided into multiple steps, and after the transfer step (C1) is performed, (C2) and (C3) are performed without performing step (D1). In (C2) and (C3), the upper and lower jaws on which the uncured hardenable denture base material is built up are inserted into the articulator separately using a positioning jig, and the transfer and marginal formation are performed while the denture base material is held in the appropriate position. At this time, the transfer and marginal formation could be performed at the appropriate position in one go without any failure.

[0159] Comparative Example 3 This comparative example is an example in which the (C) building-up and transfer process was performed in one step, and the state at that time was confirmed. Specifically, using the same reference denture as in Example 1, uncured hardenable denture base material was built up on the mucosal surface of the base central region, base front region, and base rear region of the maxillary reference denture. The maxillary reference denture on which all of these hardenable denture base materials were built up was held in a positioning jig, and then inserted into an articulator, and its mucosal surface was pressed against the mucosal surface of the maxillary patient's intraoral model, and transfer was performed in the same manner. At this time, the margin formation was performed in an unfixed position. For this reason, it was easy to shift from the appropriate position, and the hardenable denture base material piled up in the base rear region was deformed by contact with the model during insertion, or the extruded hardenable denture base material moved inward when pressed at a slight angle, and the excess hardenable denture base material could not be properly extruded from the margin of the reference denture base, and therefore it was not possible to perform a satisfactory transfer in one go. In order to finally achieve satisfactory transfer and marginal formation, it was necessary to repeat several times the operations of removing the denture from the articulator after the first transfer, removing a small amount of excess hardenable denture base material, partially adding hardenable denture base material, and then reinserting it to perform the next transfer before marginal formation. Therefore, the preparation time was considerably longer than in Example 1. [Explanation of symbols]

[0160] 1. Dentures 1A…Upper dentures 1B…Lower jaw denture 1A4,1B4…Mucosal surface 1A5,1B5…Polished surface 1A6,1B6…floor edge 1A7, 1B7... Cervical region 1A8,1B8…floor wing 2. Denture base 2A…Upper denture base 2B…Upper denture base 2A1,2B1…Central area 2A2, 2B2...Forward area (front floor wing) 2A3…posterior region (palatal floor) 2B3…Posterior area (lingual floor wing) 4...Standard denture base material 4A…Standard denture base material for the upper jaw 4B…Standard denture component for lower jaw 5. Reference Denture Components 5A…Standard denture component for upper jaw 5B…Mandibular reference denture component 6…Adjustment member 6A1, 6B1...Central adjustment member 6A2, 6B2...Front adjustment member 6A3…Rear adjustment member (palatal plate adjustment part) 6B3…Rear adjustment member (lingual wing adjustment part) 10...(in the present invention) reference denture (corresponding to the reference denture part) 10A...(in accordance with the present invention) upper jaw reference denture (corresponding to the upper jaw reference denture part) 10B...(in accordance with the present invention) mandibular reference denture (corresponding to the mandibular reference denture member) 20...Standard denture base (corresponding to standard denture base material) 20A…Standard denture base for the upper jaw (corresponding to standard denture base material for the upper jaw) 20B…Standard denture base for mandible (corresponding to standard denture base material for mandible) 20A1, 20B1...base central region 20A2, 20B2... Base front region (base front floor wing portion) 20A3…Base rear region (base palate floor) 20A3a…Mucous surface of base palate floor 20B3…Base rear region (base lingual floor wing portion) 20B3a…Mucous surface of the base lingual side of the floor wing 21A, 21B…floor wing 21B2…Lingual floor wing 22A, 22B…floor edge 22A1,22B1…Labial floor edge 22A2, 22B2…Buccal floor edge 23A, 23B…Mucosal surface 24A,24B…Polished surface 30, 30A, 30B…Artificial dentition 31, 31A, 31B…Artificial teeth 31A1, 31B1…Artificial central incisors 31A3, 31B3…Artificial canines (artificial canine teeth) 31A3p, 31B3p…Artificial canine cusps 31A6, 31B6…Artificial first molar 31A6p, 31B6p…Mesial buccal cusp tip of artificial first molar 31A7, 31B7…Artificial second molar PA…Virtual occlusal plane A1: Center of the mesial angle of the left and right central incisors of the mandibular reference denture A2: Distobuccal cusp tip of the second molar on the left side of the mandibular reference denture A3: Distobuccal cusp tip of the second molar on the right side of the mandibular reference denture HA: Highest point height of base palate floor HB: Height of the base lingual base wing part on the base edge side LA1, LB1: Height difference between the edge of the base front area and the cusp of the artificial canine in the vertical section of the artificial canine LA2: Height difference between the highest point of the base palate floor and the cusp of the artificial canine in the vertical section of the artificial canine LB2: Height difference between the base lingual base edge and the cusp of the artificial canine in the vertical section of the artificial canine LA3, LB3: Height difference between the edge of the base anterior region on the vertical section of the artificial first molar and the mesial buccal cusp tip of the artificial first molar LA4: Height difference between the highest point of the base palatal plate on the vertical section of the artificial first molar and the mesial buccal cusp tip of the artificial first molar LB4: Height difference between the base lingual wing part's edge side tip on the vertical section of the artificial first molar and the mesial buccal cusp tip of the artificial first molar 100...Articulator 101...Guidance pin 150…Patient oral model 151...Upper jaw model 152...Mandible model 200…Alignment jig 201...Standard denture retaining part 201A…Maxillary denture retention recess 201B… Mandibular denture retention recess 202...Handle

Claims

1. A method for making a denture using a reference denture, comprising the steps of: The denture has a reference denture base member and an adjustment member made of a hardened body of a hardenable denture base material, and is composed of a "denture base" whose main part is constituted by the reference denture base member, and "artificial teeth" fixed to the reference denture base member. When the denture is fitted in the patient's oral cavity, the side facing the alveolar ridge mucosa in the patient's oral cavity is referred to as the "mucosa side", the surface of the denture base and the reference denture base member facing the mucosa is referred to as the "mucosa surface", the surface opposite to the mucosa is referred to as the "polished surface", and the surface adjacent to the mucosa is referred to as the "polished surface". When the boundary with the polished surface is defined as the "base edge", the denture base has, when the denture is fitted in the patient's oral cavity, a central region having a mucosal surface covering the mucosa of the alveolar ridge crest region in the patient's oral cavity, an anterior region having a mucosal surface covering the mucosa in the patient's oral cavity further toward the lip side than the alveolar ridge crest region, and a posterior region having a mucosal surface covering the mucosa in the patient's oral cavity further toward the throat side than the alveolar ridge crest region, and the adjustment member is joined onto the mucosal surface of the reference denture base member, The reference denture is composed of a "reference denture base" which is the reference denture base member of the denture to be made, and "artificial teeth" which are fixed to the reference denture base and are the artificial teeth of the denture to be made, and has a standardized, predetermined shape and size, and the reference denture base has a base central region, a base front region, and a base rear region which respectively correspond to the central region, the front region, and the rear region of the denture base of the denture to be made, The method for making a denture comprises the steps of: (A) a reference denture preparation step of preparing the reference denture; (C) The reference denture is placed at an appropriate position on a virtual occlusal plane that is assumed to be the occlusal plane that is medically located in the patient's oral cavity, and (1) the reference denture is inserted into the patient's oral cavity to confirm the contact state between the mucous membrane in the patient's oral cavity and the reference denture, or (2) the reference denture is inserted into an articulator to which a model of the patient's oral cavity is attached to confirm the contact state between the model of the patient's oral cavity and the reference denture. If there is inappropriate contact in use, a reference denture having a different shape that does not cause the inappropriate contact is selected, or the shape of the reference denture base member of the reference denture is changed so that there is no contact. a building-up and transfer process for building up the hardenable denture base material in an unhardened state for forming the adjustment member on the mucosal surface of the reference denture base member of the reference denture whose use has been decided by finely adjusting the shape of the reference denture to be used and determining the shape of the reference denture to be used, and then disposing the reference denture on which the hardenable denture base material has been built up at an appropriate position on the virtual occlusal plane in the patient's oral cavity or in the articulator, transferring the shape of the mucosa in the patient's oral cavity or the shape of the patient's intraoral model to the hardenable denture base material and removing excess of the hardenable denture base material by performing margin formation; and (D) a hardening step of hardening the hardenable denture base material that has been subjected to the building-up and transfer steps; The (C) deposition / transfer step is (C1) a central building-up / transferring step of building up the unhardened hardenable denture base material in the base central region of the reference denture base to transfer the shape of the patient's oral cavity or the patient's oral cavity model; (C2) a front build-up / transfer step of building up the unhardened hardenable denture base material in the base front region of the reference denture base member to transfer the shape of the patient's oral cavity or the patient's oral cavity model and extending it beyond the base edge to form a margin; and (C3) a rear building / transferring step of building up the hardenable denture base material in an unhardened state on the rear base region of the reference denture base member to transfer the shape of the patient's oral cavity or the patient's oral cavity model and extending it beyond the base edge to form a margin, After the central build-up / transfer step is performed, the front build-up / transfer step and the rear build-up / transfer step are performed simultaneously or separately. A method for making dentures.

2. A method for making the denture according to claim 1, comprising the steps of: The method further includes a wash step of adding the unhardened hardenable denture base material onto the mucosal surface of the reference denture base after the anterior building-up / transfer step and the posterior building-up / transfer step are completed, thereby correcting the shape of the mucosal surface. A method for making dentures.

Images