Descriptive study on the procedure of dental prostheses at the dental laboratory in Seoul

치과기공소의 보철 기공물 제작 과정에 사용되는 재료 및 방법에 관한 실태조사 연구

The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which dental laboratories use proper materials, procedures, devices, and equipments to fabricate crown & bridge, PFM(Porcelain Fused to Metal) crown & bridge, partial denture, complete denture, and other prosteses. 100 laboratories in Seoul were selected for this investigation. Questionnaires were constructed focusing on five topocs:crown & bridge, PFM crown & bridge, partial denture, complete denture, and other prostheses. The results from this survey were as follows : 1. Most dental laboratories used old, inexpensive, and familiar materials rather than newly developed ones. 2. Most of the dental technicians did not stick to the standard procedures of handling materials, but to their own experiences. 3. Newly developed equipments to fabricate dental prostheses were possessed by nearly 30% dental laboratories. 4. About 80% of dental laboratories were using the procedures they had learned in the school : die trimming for accurate crown margin and softening heat treatment after RPD gold casting. But less than 30% of laboratories were shown to follow the boxing procedure to produce master cast and laboratory remounting in the process of complete denture. The findings show that dental laboratory procedures to fabricate dental prostheses are incomplete and inaccurate in some instances. So, further studies are neededs to clarify the causes of some inaccurate procedures, the better and more equipments should be supplied to produce the more accurate dental posthesis, and more efforts at enancing the appropriate use of dental materials and procedures should be made.