Dental magnetic attachment: toward third generation devices.

Toward realizing the performance of functional and versatile dental magnetic attachments in the third generation required for individual prosthesis, it is important to control retentive characteristics of the attachments. For this purpose, three new types of magnetic attachment, i.e., split-pole type with a slant magnetization, modified split-pole type, and cylinder type, have been developed and evaluated in terms of the restoring force as well as the retentive force. The new attachments are designed to have high corrosion resistance, combining magnetic and nonmagnetic stainless steels and microlaser welding similar to the usual cup-yoke and sandwich-yoke types. It has been found that the two split-pole types have stronger restoring force and the cylinder type has weaker restoring force in comparison with the usual magnetic attachments. The attachments can be used properly and selectively according to individual requirement on abutment state and denture retention. As a result, the newly developed attachments may provide flexible retention performance useful for more effective and extensive applications of a magnetic attachment.