CUSTOMIZED THERMOPLAST RETENTIVE AID FOR PARTIAL AURICULAR PROSTHESIS-A CASE REPORT

Auricular prostheses were traditionally retained using chemical adhesives ,mechanical retentive aids or natural undercuts at retention sites.These methods have the limitation of frequent loss of retention, skin reactions to adhesives, or unnatural movements of the prosthesis. Osseo integrated implants which has superior advantages over others have disadvantages for patients with financial constraints and/or who are apprehensive of surgery.Also, extraoral implants require adequate thickness of bone, which may be deficient in certain cases. In this case report,we have described about a new technique of fabricating and incoporating a customized thermoplastic auricular retentive aid thus utilizing both anatomic and mechanical retention.