denture base
denture baseplate

The largest group of laboratory made dental polymers are those used as denture bases.

Recently, novel polymer systems for use with denture bases have been developed by Michael Braden at the London Hospital.

Stability is the principle that describes how well the denture base is prevented from moving in the horizontal plane, and thus from sliding side to side or front and back.

Plaster is also used to invest or flask wax dentures, the wax being subsequently removed and replaced with the final denture base material which is cured in the plaster mold.

The more the denture base (pink material) runs in smooth and continuous contact with the edentulous ridge (the hill upon which the teeth used to reside, but now consists of only residual alveolar bone with overlying mucosa), the better the stability.

Instead of merely placing the implants to serve as blocking mechanism against the denture pushing on the alveolar bone, small retentive appliances can be attached to the implants that can then snap into a modified denture base to allow for tremendously increased retention.