Metal free partial denture

Looking for a metal free partial denture?

Metal free partial denture is a patient removable dental prosthesis that we use to replace missing teeth. The use of new products allow dentists to finally offer something with confidence that patients will like! The main reason people have an interest in metal free partial dentures is esthetics but some people have a concern about metal sensitivity.

What is a metal free partial denture?

Metal free partial dentures are just that, they are partial dentures that do not contain any metal. The lack of metal is main reason people chose these partial dentures, whether it is esthetic reasons or metal sensitivity reasons. A partial denture, if you don’t know, is a removable appliance that replaces one or more missing teeth. You can eat and talk with it in but should remove at night to keep your tissue under it healthy. Patients usually like partials, much more so than full dentures.

What are the metal free partial denture options?

The main options are the high strength polymers and resins and the flexible thermoplastic resins. The high strength polymers and resins act a lot like a metal partial. The flexible partials obviously do not act like metal, since they flex.

High strength polymer and resin partial dentures

• Zirlux Acetal
• Ultaire AKP – high strength polymer
• Pekkton is another possibility but most only use for implant framework cases

These are still more of an experimental phase. What I hear is that Zirlux needs more undercut than Ultaire for strength. Also neither of these can have much in the way of clasps that dentists use with traditional metal partials. They can use short akers and that is about it, which means no I-bar or double akers.

Flexible partial dentures lack a framework

• Duraflex
• ReSure transparent
• Valplast
• tcs

Of these Duraflex and possibly ReSure are the best and I can not think of any reason to use anything other than those for your flexible partial denture.

Images of a metal free partial denture

The one on the left has a framework and is rigid and the one on the right is flexible.

 

Advantages and disadvantages of a metal free partial denture.

In this section we compare metal partial dentures to the metal free partial dentures.

Advantages of metal free partial dentures

• The real advantage is that they are metal free therefore they are more esthetic.
• The cost of some of the metal free partials is lower.
• The time and number of dental visits it takes to make some of these partials is less.

Disadvantages of a metal free partial denture

• You can not add teeth to a metal free partial dentures, well at least not very well. The ability to add teeth to a metal partial instead of remaking something new every time a tooth is lost is a HUGE money saver for many people.
• They are likely not as durable and we certainly don’t have the decades worth of research and experience with them as we do with metal partials.

What does a metal free partial denture cost?

The cost of a metal free partial denture is roughly the same as a metal partial denture. However, if you get a flexible partial denture then the cost is often lower. The flexible dentures include things like Duraflex and Valplast. Our fees for the polymer metal free partial denture is $2400 and the flexible partial denture is $1500.

You can find the average cost of a metal free partial denture in your area by looking at the fair health consumer website. The dental code for the non flexible partial dentures that you need to type in is D5213 or D5214. This will give you the accurate fee but is not the accurate code for anything non-metal. To the best of my knowledge there is no accurate code for the high strength polymer partial dentures so the use of the metal code will give you the most accurate cost. However, technically the resin code would likely be the “right” code to use. The flexible partial denture code is D5225 or D5226.

 

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