Pala Digital Denture System

Exceptional Fit and Esthetics in a Fraction of the Normal Time

Figure 1 | It is estimated that in the late 1980s, less than 1% of the world’s technologically stored information was in digital format. Today, that figure is more than 99%.1 While digital technology only recently entered the world of denture manufacturing, it is hard to think of a product area where the impact of this technology has been more dramatic.

The process of denture production has historically been time consuming, frustrating, and challenging for patients, technicians, and clinicians. With the Pala Digital Denture System, those problems are history, due in large part to customizable impression trays that provide the clinician the ability to obtain highly comprehensive and accurate records of the impression. The trays capture the impression, bite, vertical dimension, and centric relation in the patient’s first visit. With conventional dentures, it takes three or more visits to gather this information.

First, the clinician uses the customizable tray system to take the final impression for the maxillary, mandibular, and the bite. Next, the impressions are sent to a Pala laboratory partner where the impression is scanned and converted to a digital impression. The impressions are sent to the Pala Design Center and digitally articulated to the patient’s bite. The denture is designed based on anatomical landmarks, and the teeth are digitally articulated.

Any adjustments requested by the clinician are made by a Pala Digital Dentures certified modeler and rescanned. Once the design is approved, a 3D printed prototype is made and shipped to the dental practice for patient fit. The digital precision means that minimal, if any, adjustment will be required, as the number of resets is usually well under half of what is normally seen with analog dentures. The end result is a two- or three-appointment treatment that can be completed in approximately 10 days.

The timesavings associated with Pala Digital Dentures are rivaled only by their outstanding esthetics and durability, as the system features Heraeus Kulzer’s Mondial and Mondial i denture teeth made specifically with and for CAD/CAM technology.

“Reducing chairtime is what it’s all about—for both my practice and my patients—and the Pala Digital Denture System certainly delivers on that count. It also delivers the accuracy and predictability that only CAD/CAM technology can provide, plus I love having the ability to make a replica of the denture using the digital record,” noted David Little, DDS, from San Antonio, Texas.

Additionally, because the digital design and records are stored, they can be easily accessed and a duplicate can be designed or remade without a new patient impression.

Reference

1. Hilbert H, López P. The world’s technological capacity to store, communicate and compute information. Science. 2011;332(6025):60-65.

Product Highlights

• Digital denture design made possible by Pala’s customizable tray system means patients only need three appointments versus five or more that conventional dentures require

• Exceptionally life-like esthetics and durability
• Fast and easy access to digital records that make it possible to create duplicate dentures without retaking impressions

For more information, contact:
Heraeus Kulzer
800-431-1785
www.paladigitaldentures.com