Application of carbon fiber (CF)-cloth reinforcement to upper complete denture base.

The acrylic resin denture base is used more than the usual metal denture base because of the low cost, simple process to make and easy rebasing. But, as the strength of the resin is weaker, the upper resin denture base is three to four times as thick as the metal denture base. So, a study was made to make the upper complete resin denture base thinner while maintaining the strength of the resin denture bases currently in use now. To make the palatal area of the denture base thinner was made possible by the application of carbon fiber (CF)-cloth reinforcement. The resin denture base reinforced by the CF-cloth was of a thickness of 0.7 mm and was evaluated for the mechanical properties of bending. As a result, it was found that both the stiffness and strength were improved by 10% or more as compared with those of the ordinary resin denture bases.