DIMENSIONAL CHANGES IN CASTING TITANIUM REMOVABLE PARTIAL DENTURE FRAMEWORKS

The difficulties encountered in casting titanium and its alloys have until recently hindered any widespread use of titanium in restorative dentistry. Now both equipment and materials are available for the routine use of titanium in the dental laboratory. This study used one of the casting systems and examined dimensional changes that occur during the construction of a removable partial denture framework. Nineteen castings were measured for horizontal and vertical plane changes. Results show these castings to have cross arch contraction, vertical plane expansion, and near neutral anterioposterior change. It seems that pure titanium is within the range of dimension changes generally accepted for base metal removable partial denture alloys of the nickel-chromium variety.