The context of increasing life spans and evidence from various national dental health surveys in industrialized countries, indicate that the proportion of edentulous people will continue to decline and that more people will retain more teeth into old age. Projections based on data from such surveys suggest a decline in tooth loss but an increased need for management of partial edentulism in patients with compromised oral or general health status. This trend of age-related increased tooth retention suggests that partially edentulous cohorts will be older than before and probably less disposed than younger people to such treatment with extensive tooth- or implant-supported fixed partial dentures (FPD). Consequently, socioeconomic factors and population trends suggest increased future treatment needs with different partial prostheses. A well-constructed removable partial denture (RPD) can be an excellent treatment alternative yet; these patients deserve the best esthetic and functional result possible.

The revolutionary new thermoplastic materials are adapted for all kind of removable dentures. T-crystal is a new premium thermoplastic, hypoallergenic and biocompatible,

 that bonds to conventional acrylics cold/hot cure and is suitable to use for partial dentures, full dentures, mini-dentures. While is thin and lightweight, the material is rigid with a moderate degree of flexibility, allowing using all those advantages to create an esthetic and functional dental appliance.

Since a bulky metal frame is not needed, the appliance can be produced very fast avoiding the step of metal casting and a lot of place to design the desired restoration with the maximum possibilities is available.

T-crystal allows building the clasps on the tooth, while they will flex into the undercut of the tooth, not involving gums to achieve retention. This is a good reason to use T-crystal removable dentures as provisional appliances immediately after implant placement and during implants healing phase in partially edentulous cases.

Easy to polish, like acrylic, smooth and high-polished appliances are obtained and adaptation by the patient is very fast and successful. The material is "dentists and dental technicians friendly" to polish and adjust.

While the satisfaction of our patients is the first thing we have to think about, this new material has all the advantages we have been searching for a moderately-flexible thermoplastic appliance.

 Eitan Mijiritsky DMD, Dipl. in prosthod.