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Different Pontic Design

There are several pontic designs that can be used for fixed partial dentures. The most common designs include the saddle, modified ridge lap, hygienic, conical, ovate, prefabricated pontic facings, and metal-ceramic pontics. The saddle design is not recommended as it is impossible to clean under the pontic. The modified ridge lap and metal-ceramic pontics are the most commonly used designs today as they are esthetic and easy to clean. The hygienic design has no contact with the ridge to facilitate cleaning.

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Hassanein Al-Hamdani
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352 views

Different Pontic Design

There are several pontic designs that can be used for fixed partial dentures. The most common designs include the saddle, modified ridge lap, hygienic, conical, ovate, prefabricated pontic facings, and metal-ceramic pontics. The saddle design is not recommended as it is impossible to clean under the pontic. The modified ridge lap and metal-ceramic pontics are the most commonly used designs today as they are esthetic and easy to clean. The hygienic design has no contact with the ridge to facilitate cleaning.

Uploaded by

Hassanein Al-Hamdani
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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‫حسنين رياض فوزي‬

Group (B1)
DIFFERENT PONTIC DESIGNS
There are several designs available for use in situations requiring pontics
in the fabrication of fixed partial dentures. These include: saddle (ridge
lap), modified ridge lap, hygienic, conical, ovate, prefabricated pontic
facings, and metal-ceramic pontics.
Saddle
The saddle pontic looks most like a tooth, replacing all the contours of the
missing tooth. It forms a large concave contact with the ridge (Fig 1a),
obliterating the facial, lingual, and proximal embrasures. It is also called a
ridge lap because it overlaps the facial and lingual aspects of the ridge. A
contact with the ridge that extends beyond the midline of the edentulous
ridge, or a sharp angle at the linguogingival aspect of the tissue contact,
constitutes a ridge lap (Fig 1b). This design has long been recognized as
being unclean and uncleanable, and it still is. The saddle is impossible to
clean because floss cannot traverse the tissue-facing area of the pontic,
which bridges the linguogingival and faciogingival angles of the pontic.
The saddle causes tissue inflammation, and it should not be used.

(a) (b)
Fig 1 (a) A classic saddle or ridge lap pontic. (b) A linguogingival ridge
(arrow) or extension past the crest of the ridge, although less severe, still
constitutes a saddle.
Modified ridge lap
The modified ridge lap design gives the illusion of a tooth, but it
possesses all or nearly all convex surfaces for ease of cleaning. The
lingual surface should have a slight deflective contour to prevent food
impaction and minimize plaque accumulation. There may be a slight
faciolingual concavity on the facial side of the ridge, which can be
cleaned and tolerated by the tissue as long as the tissue contact is narrow
mesiodistally and faciolingually. Ridge contact must extend no farther
lingually than the midline of the edentulous ridge, even on posterior teeth.
Whenever possible, the contour of the tissue-contacting area of the pontic
should be convex, even if a small amount of soft tissue on the ridge must
be surgically removed to facilitate it. This design, with a porcelain
veneer, is the most commonly used pontic design in the esthetic zone for
both maxillary and mandibular fixed partial dentures (Fig 2).

Fig 2 Modified ridge lap pontics: (a) maxillary; (b) mandibular.


Hygienic
The term hygienic is used to describe pontics that have no contact with
the edentulous ridge (Fig 3). This pontic design is frequently called a
“sanitary pontic,” The hygienic pontic is used in areas that are not easily
visible, particularly for replacing mandibular first molars. Making the
undersurface of the pontic round without angles allows for easier
flossing. It is more difficult to get floss to pass over a flat undersurface
evenly or to get over sharp faciogingival and linguogingival line angles.
The round design has been described as a “fish belly” (Fig 4a).

Fig 3 Hygienic or sanitary pontic.


An alternative design, in which the pontic is made in the form of a
concave archway mesiodistally (Fig 4b), has been suggested. The
undersurface of the pontic is convex faciolingually, giving the tissue-
facing surface of the pontic the configuration of a hyperbolic paraboloid.
This design has been called a modified sanitary pontic.

(b)
Fig 4 Facial view of hygienic, or sanitary, pontics: (a) conventional
(“fish belly”); (b) modified sanitary pontic.
Conical
The conical pontic is rounded and cleanable, but the tip is small in
relation to the overall size of the pontic. It is well suited for use on a thin
mandibular ridge (Fig 5a). However, when used with a broad, flat ridge,
the resulting large triangular embrasure spaces around the tissue contact
have a tendency to collect debris (Fig 5b).

(a) (b)
Fig 5 Conical pontic used correctly with a thin ridge (a) and incorrectly
with a broad, flat ridge (b). The arrows indicate debris-trapping
embrasure spaces.
Ovate
The ovate pontic is a round-end design currently in use where esthetics is
a primary concern. The tissue-contacting segment of the ovate pontic is
bluntly rounded, and it is set into a concavity in the ridge (Fig 6). It is
easily flossed. The concavity can be created by placement of a
provisional fixed partial denture with the pontic extending one-quarter of
the way into the socket immediately after extraction of the tooth. It also
can be created surgically at some later time.

Fig 6 The round-end ovate pontic fits into a depression in the ridge.
Prefabricated pontic facings
Historically, preformed porcelain facings were popular for fabricating
pontics. They required adaptation to a specific edentulous space after
which they were reglazed. Some, such as Trupontics, Sanitary Pontics,
and Steele’s Facings (Franklin Dental), relied on a lug in a custom cast
metal backing to engage a slot in the occlusal or lingual surface of the
facing (Fig 7a). The large bulk of porcelain could result in a thin gold
backing susceptible to flexing. Harmony (Harmony Dental) and Trubyte
(Dentsply) facings used horizontal pins that fit into the gold backing (Fig
7b). They were difficult to use in patients with limited occlusogingival
space, and refitting the pins into a backing after casting was demanding.

(a) (b)
Fig 7 Prefabricated facings: (a) slot-back; (b) Harmony pin facing.
Metal-ceramic pontics
With the widespread use of metal-ceramic restorations, metal-ceramic
pontics have replaced other types of pontics employing porcelain. Metal-
ceramic pontics have the greatest esthetic potential as prosthetic
replacements for missing teeth. Additionally, metal-ceramic pontics are
stronger because the porcelain is bonded to the metal substrate rather than
cemented to it. They are easier to use because the backing is custom made
for a space (no need to adapt a premade porcelain facing to the space).
References.
1. Tjan AHL. A sanitary “arc-fixed partial denture”: Concept and technique of pontic design. J Prosthet
Dent 1983;50:338–341.
2. Yamashita A. Practical construction procedure for a new type of bridge pontic. Quintessence Int
1985;16:743–753.
3. Garber DA, Rosenberg ES. The edentulous ridge in fixed prosthodontics. Compend Contin Educ
Dent 1981;2:212–223.
4. Perel ML. A modified sanitary pontic. J Prosthet Dent 1972;28:589 592.
5. Hood JA. Stress and deflection of three different pontic designs. J Prosthet Dent 1975;33:54–59.
6. Herbert T. Shillingburg Jr.Fundamentals of fixed prosthodontics 4th ed. Quintessence Publishing
Co, Inc.2013

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