Journal of AdvancedMedical and Dental Sciences Research

Introduction: The Fixed Partial Denture (FPD) is considered to be the weakest at the connector region and can lead to the formation of micro-cracks. It has been observed that abutment teeth with higher taper angles during tooth preparation had a greater bulk of connector which led to increase in strength of the connector and the full ceramic FPD. Objective: To determine the effect of taper of abutment teeth in the stress distribution of full ceramic 3-unit fixed partial dentures. Material & Methods: Two fixed partial denture (FPD) models were created on a dentate human skull. The FPDs replaced mandibular second premolar and the adjacent first premolar and first molar served as the abutment teeth. Computerized Tomography (CT) images of the skull were taken and exported to solid modeling software, which were then transferred to the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) program. The tapers were different in each model, the first being 14 degrees and the second 24 degrees. Von Mises resolved stresses as well as Principal stresses were recorded for each model at the connector as well as the abutment teeth. Results: The maximum Von Mises stresses for the first model with a taper of 14 degrees were 21 MPa at the connector, 5 MPa at the first premolar region and 2 MPa at the first molar region. The maximum Von Mises stresses for the second model with a taper of 24 degrees were 17 MPa at the connector, 5 MPa at the first premolar and 1.8 MPa at the first molar region. The maximum Principal stresses for the first model with a taper of 14 degrees were 16 MPa at the connector, 0.5 MPa at the first premolar region and 0.3 MPa at the first molar region. The maximum Principal stresses for the second model with a taper of 24 degrees were 14 MPa at the connector, 0.4 MPa at the first premolar and 0.3 MPa at the first molar region. Conclusion: Increased taper may lead to decrease in stress at the region of the FPD connector. Keywords: FPD, FEA, full ceramic, taper, stress distribution.