Investigation of the strain produced in maxillary complete dentures in function.

An experiment has been completed to investigate the strain levels obtained on polymethylmethacrylate dentures in function when biting and swallowing. The use of stacked, rosette strain gauges enabled the magnitude of strain in the material underlying the gauge to be calculated and, in addition, the direction of the principle maximum and minimum strain was also calculated. Strain in the denture base was measured in biting and swallowing with a normal occlusion, when the occlusal contact area was narrowed, and with the rosette gauges.