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Physics, Use and Design of Dental Magnets

A.P.Dias and B.W.Darvell


Rare-earth alloy magnets have been used to retain prostheses and to move teeth for over twenty years. However, the literature on both retention magnets and orthodontic magnet systems can be characterized in general as lacking reference to physical principles: retention expressed as force per unit mass or force per unit volume of magnet assembly; the force-distance relationship said to be according to various relationships; force said to vary with the speed of separation; the stated need for a keeper of specified thickness and the need for special high permeability alloys. Data are now presented to demonstrate that the expected force-distance relationship approaches an inverse fourth power law. The keeper may be a plane of infinitesimal thickness; its relative permeability ceases to be implant for µ/µ0 > ~200 in that the retentive force could then be improved by no more than 1% at any given distance; speed of separation has no bearing on the retention; the development of special keeper alloys would be a waste of time and effort. From the above it follows that: in retention system, even a very small increase in the distance between magnet and keeper for whatever reason would significantly reduce retention; the design of orthodontic tooth movement systems should take the force-distance relationship into consideration if a rapid rise or fall of force with tooth movement is to be avoided. The development and design of dental magnets and clinical procedures should take account of these factors if the clinical outcome is to be satisfactory.

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The Basic and Clinical Research of Z-1 Type Magnetic Attachment

ZHAO Yimin, LIU Baolin, HUANG Hui, CHENG Yong and ZHOU Tao


Application of magnetic force in retention of prostheses has been tried more than half century. With the development of magnetic materials and manufacturing technique, it has become a realization to use magnetic force to retain oral and maxillofacial prostheses in recent 20 years. As a mature retentive technique, magnetic attachment has been applied in various prostheses more and more popularly now.

On the base of a lot of researchs on magnetic materials and mechanics, we have developed Z-1 type magnetic attachment since 1987. Z-1 type magnetic attachment is a type of closed-field magnetic attachment, which consisted of a permanent magnet and a prefabricated pin-cap keeper. The magnet is designed in sandwich form and made of Nd-Fe-B permanent magnet; the keeper is made of Fe-Cr-Mo soft magnetic alloy. It is of some obvious advantages besides the general advantages of magnetic attachment, for example: Strong retentive force, its average retentive force is 9.3N every attachment; outstanding heat magnetic stability, it can be used under 110°C and doesn't change its magnetic property; weak extra magnetic field, its extra magnetic field strength is under 0.02T; sample operating method etc. For above reasons, it has been applied in various prostheses extensively in China and improved the retention of prostheses effectively.

Some basic and clinical researches of Z-1 type magnetic attachment are introduced in following. 

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Use of the Magnet with Milled Bar for Implant-supported Overdenture

Jau-Min Hong


The totally edentulous patient can benefit from fully implant supported fix detachable bridge. When considering the anatomic limitations of edentulous maxilla and mandible, the need for a properly designed prosthesis that results in favorable biomechanical stress distribution and fulfillment of patient needs, in regard to esthetics, phonetics, comfort, and hygiene, an overdenture prosthesis is usually the prosthesis of choice. According to the type of supporting and retention implant overdenture prosthesis can be classified into 3 categories : hybrid, implant supported, and implant retained. Generally implant supported overdenture is the case of four or more implants in the anterior region of upper or lower jaw, then fabrication of an overdenture prosthesis supported and retained anteriorly by implants and supported posteriorly the residual alveolar ridge.

The purpose of this report describes the clinical application, evaluation and laboratory procedures of the magnet attachment with milled bar as retention for implant - supported overdenture. 

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Evaluation of the Retention Form of the Magfit Magnetic Attachment System

Y.Y.Shiau and C.C.Liu


Magnetic attachment has been successfully used on prosthetic dentistry to improve the retention of the removable dentures. Its use minimized the hazardous effect of the denture retention form on the abutment, and its intra-denture retention from also minimized the display of the clasp and rest thus improved the denture esthetics. Besides, extensively destructed tooth or moderate periodontally involved tooth which were previously regarded as insufficient can be used as abutments when the concept of magnetic attachments is applied.

Many types of magnetic attachments were developed since Gilling (1981) proposed his concept of modern magnetic use. Development has been based on searching a more powerful, smaller and less corrosive magnetic assembly. Magfit system is one of the newly developed magnetic systems having such characteristics. However, some possible worries remained, among them is the retention of the magnet assembly in the denture base of a removable partial denture.

In addition to the use of metal conditioner to enhance the adhesion between the metal and the resin part, some modifications of the magnet part were proposed to increase the retention ability of the magnet in the denture base. However, modification caused either increase of the size or the increase of the price. Since Magfit magnetic attachment is the smallest system developed for the dental use, the evaluation of the magnetic attachment retention can be on this system only. The purpose of this study thererfore, was to examine the potential risk of magnetic detachment of conventional Magfit system and to evaluate the necessity of changing its shape to obtain better retention. 

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Study on The Abrasion of Magnetic Attachment by Brushing

Naomasa Sawada, Akio Asano, Makoto Sakai, Mutsuo Yamauchi and Tooru Nagasawa


Using different types of cleaning pastes and tooth-brushes of different stiffness, we examined how magnetic attachments were affected by brushing. The magnetic attachments were subjected to 100,000 times of brushing using brushing abrasion tester. Before and after brushing test, measurement of the surface roughness, waviness and attractive force was carried out.

The surface roughness of magnetic attachments underwent no significant changes by brushing. The waviness of the magnetic attachment was increased significantly by brushing with the exception of the keeper brushed with soft tooth-brush. The attractive force between the brushed keeper and unbrushed magnetic assembly underwent no differences compared to the control (Attractive force between the unbrushed keeper and magnetic assembly). However, the attractive force between the brushed magnetic assembly and unbrushed keeper was significantly decreased comparing to the control when brushed with ordinary tooth-paste or denture cleaning paste using a stiff tooth-brush.

These results suggest that the brushing at magnetic assembly with a tooth-paste using a stiff tooth-brush is fraught with a risk of decreasing the attractive force. 


Keywords : magnetic attachment, brushing, hardness of tooth-brush, tooth paste, waviness 

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Experimental Research on Retention of Magnetic Assemblies to Denture Bases

Yoshinori Nakamura, Yoshinobu Tanaka, Takashi Ishida, Yasuo Kishimoto, Takeshi Kanazawa, Yoshinori Desaki, Tohru Satou, Kazuyuki Matsumoto, Akira Imaizumi and Yoshinobu Honkura


A magnetic assembly should firmly stay in a denture base. Generally it is fixed into denture by use of selfcuring resin with metal bonding agent. In this report, clinical factors influencing retention of the magnetic assembly were analyzed through tensile strength test on various conditioned models.

The results may be summarized as follows:

1) Sandblasting prior to fixation was very effective to improve retention.

2) Metal bonding agent (Metalprimer II : GC Corp.) was still effective even after one week of its application

3) Projections as mechanical undercut prepared on lateral walls of the magnetic assembly showed better retention than the horizontal grooves.

4) The most effective lateral contour of the magnetic assembly for retention was found to be an inverse tapered face.


Keywords : magnetic attachment, magnetic assembly, metal bonding agent, retention in a denture base, tensile strength

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