The residual ridge in partially edentulous patients.

The residual ridge which forms after the extraction of teeth is characterized by a loss of substance when compared with the dentulous ridge. The residual ridge shrinks in an apical direction and shifts lingually. This remodeling pattern takes place mainly at the expense of the bony crest, the buccal plate of the alveolar process, and the gingival tissues covering it. The lingual positioning of the residual ridge crest was observed in maxillary and mandibular specimens in all the regions of the jaws and regardless of the number of teeth missing. Cross sections of the residual ridge were square, parabolic, or tapered. The base of the pontic for a fixed partial denture should be made buccolingually as the mirror image of the crest of the residual ridge it is to contact, and it should follow mesiodistally the contour and length of the clinical crowns of the adjacent abutment teeth.