Effects of the type and rigidity of the retainer and the number of abutting teeth on stress distribution of telescopic-retained removable partial dentures

Background/purpose: Little is known about the force-transmission characteristics and patterns of telescopic-retained removable partial dentures (RPDs) as related to their type and rigidity (rigid and/or resilient) and the number of abutting teeth supporting the telescopic dentures. In this study, we compared the strain around the abutting teeth and edentulous ridges supporting telescopic-retained RPDs with different designs using a strain gauge technique.