FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF STRESS-DISTRIBUTION AT THE TOOTH-DENTURE BASE INTERFACE OF ACRYLIC RESIN TEETH DEBONDING FROM THE DENTURE BASE

Acrylic resin teeth present a problem when they detach unexpectedly from the denture base resin, Detachment is caused by stress concentrations at the tooth/denture base resin interface, In this study, the finite element method was used to examine the stress distribution at this interface when a single static force that resembled incisal bite force was applied, The results indicated that irrespective of the type of acrylic resin teeth used, maximum tensile stresses were found at the palatal aspect of the interface, It is suggested that boxing the tooth in the acrylic resin will help redistribute stress concentrations favorably.