A comparative study of retention of complete denture base with different types of posterior palatal seals – an in vivo study

GS Chandu,1 BS Hema,2 Harsh Mahajan,1 Antriksh Azad,2 Ipsita Sharma,3 Anurag Azad4 1Department of Prosthodontics, Rishiraj College of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India; 2Department of Conservative Dentistry, Rishiraj College of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India; 3Department of Oral Pathology, RKDF Dental college and Research centre, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India; 4Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Bhabha College of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India Aim: To evaluate retention of complete denture base with different types of posterior palatal seals. Material and methods: Ten male patients between the age group of 50 years to 60 years were selected for the study. After the primary and secondary impressions were taken, five casts were made including a cast without posterior palatal seal, a cast with single bead posterior palatal seal, a cast with double bead posterior palatal seal, a cast with butterfly shaped posterior palatal seal, and a cast with posterior palatal seal with low fusing compound by functional method. Results: It was observed that retention increased up to 108% in the posterior palatal seal with low fusing compound with functional method and the posterior palatal seal that was obtained by using functional method provided greater retention than a denture base without posterior palatal seal. Conclusion: It was concluded that the incorporation of a posterior palatal seal is important for obtaining optimum retention of the maxillary complete denture. Keywords: posterior palatal seal, denture base, complete denture, functional metho