OBJECTIVETo investigate and compare the stress of edentulous mucosa and periodontal membranes of the abutments under vertical loads for separated removable partial denture or conical telescope denture.

METHODSOne patient who had lost the second premolar and the first molar on the upper jaw and had I mobile abutments was chosen in the study. Two precise three dimensional finite element models were constructed by using screw CT image reconstruction technique and Materialise Mimics, Pro/Engineer WF 2.0, ANSYS Workbench software. Vertical forces were loaded on the two models. Then comparing and analyzing the von Mises stress distribution of the edentulous mucosa and the periodontal membranes of abutments between the separate removable partial denture and conical telescope denture in the software of ANSYS Workbench.

RESULTSThe von Mises stress values of the edentulous mucosa of separate removable partial denture were larger than that of the conical telescope denture. The von Mises stress values of abutments periodontal membranes of separate removable partial denture were lower than that of conical telescope denture.

CONCLUSIONUnder vertical loads, compare with conical telescope denture, the separate removable partial denture can protect the abutments.