Purpose: The purpose of this study was to survey the production of titanium dentures in Tsurumi University Dental Hospital and to study the actual use of titanium dentures in our university.
Methods: The survey was based on the metal base dentures produced at Tsurumi University Dental Hospital during an 11-year period between April 1995 and March 2006, with relation to the types of metals used in the dentures, types of dentures, dental condition, and the number of artificial teeth.
Results: 1871 metal base dentures were produced in the study period. The dentures consisted of 1290 cobalt-chromium alloy dentures (68.9%), 350 titanium dentures (18.7%) and 231 platinum-added gold alloy dentures (12.3%). Within the titanium denture groups, 132 were complete dentures (37.7%), 55 were complete overdentures (15.7%) and 163 were removable partial dentures (46.6%). JIS type 3 pure titanium was used in the titanium base of 252 dentures (72.0%). The average number of artificial teeth was 10.9, which was the highest among the three types of metal bases, exhibiting significant differences (P<0.01).
Conclusion: Approximately 32 titanium dentures per year on average were delivered at our university and they were applied to almost edentulous arch compared with the other metal base dentures.