If you have been practising dentistry for any length of time, you will have seen the shift. Patients today are more informed, more image conscious, and far more vocal about comfort and aesthetics. The days of “it will do” are long gone. They want solutions that look natural, feel comfortable, and fit seamlessly into their daily lives.

That is exactly why flexible dentures, particularly Valplast flexible dentures, have become such a valuable option for modern dental practices across London and the UK.

At Bremadent Dental Laboratory, we specifically use genuine Valplast for our flexible dentures. Not generic flexible nylon. Not an unbranded alternative. Valplast. There is a clear reason for that decision. It comes down to reputation, clinical research, material reliability, and long term performance.

At Bremadent Dental Laboratory in London, we often say that great dentures do not start with teeth. They start with records. And at the centre of those records sits one of the most underestimated tools in removable prosthodontics: the bite block.

Bite blocks might not look impressive. They are simple wax rims on a baseplate. No aesthetics. No polished surfaces. No high shine. But clinically, they carry enormous responsibility. When used properly, bite blocks determine function, facial harmony, phonetics, occlusion, comfort and long term stability. When used poorly, they create remakes, sore spots, fractured bases, unhappy patients and frustrated dentists.

This blog explains why bite blocks are critical in complete dentures and many partial denture cases, and why careful records at this stage save time, money and stress later.

In today’s dental landscape, material choice is no longer a secondary consideration. It is central to clinical success, long-term outcomes, patient satisfaction, and efficiency for the dental team. With advancements in dental materials, dentists now have more options than ever, which is fantastic, but it also means that choosing the wrong material for the wrong indication can quickly lead to complications, remakes, or unhappy patients.

At Bremadent Dental Laboratory, we work at the interface between science, craftsmanship, and real-world dentistry. This article takes a practical look at the most common materials used for fixed restorations, explains their key properties, and highlights where each material performs best. The aim is clarity, not complexity. No marketing hype, just honest guidance from a laboratory that delivers thousands of fixed cases every year.

As a dental laboratory, we see hundreds of relines and additions every year. Some are absolute textbook cases and a joy to process. Others, let’s be honest, arrive with a level of mystery that would challenge even the most optimistic technician. The difference between those two outcomes nearly always comes down to one thing: the quality and accuracy of the clinical impression.

At Bremadent Dental Laboratory, we created a clear, practical clinical guide for relines and additions to help dentists and dental teams achieve predictable, reliable results first time. This blog is built directly from that guide and expands on the reasoning behind it, the common pitfalls we see, and how a few small changes chairside can save time, frustration, and remakes for everyone involved

This is not about telling clinicians how to do their job. It is about sharing what we see daily at the bench and helping bridge the gap between surgery and laboratory so patients get the outcome they deserve.

Taking a wax bite registration is a crucial part of fabricating complete dentures, it allows information from the patient to be transferred to the dental laboratory to manufacture a denture based on the patients unique parameters. The information used allows the dental laboratory to provide a tooth set up within the parameters traditionally or CAD, 3D printed.

The same information from a wax bite registration applies to both traditional and digital methods of constructing complete dentures.

The first stage of any denture case is: Patient details & history, denture history, E/O & I/O examinations, diagnoses, prognosis, treatment options and a treatment plan.

How to take bite registration is broken down into 3 steps:

Step 1: Orientation
Step 2: Facial and smile features
Step 3: Register the bite

Tools: Fox’s bite plane, rim former, Willis gauge, wax knife, Bunsen burner, PVS dispensing gun

Materials: Wax, bite registration paste

Functions of a bite registration in complete dentures:

1. Aesthetics – facial and smile features
2. Function – Jaw relationship, OVD, neutral zone
3. Phonation
4. Tissue support
5. Orientation – Horizonal & occulsal planes

How are wax bite blocks used in digital dentures?

1. The wax bite rims are CAD scanned with either the model or I/O impression scan and turned into 3D objects
2. The 3D wax bite registration is used as reference points based on the patient parameters e.g centre line, horizontal plane etc
3. The CAD software automates a tooth set up based on the parameters
4. The 3D wax bite reg is used as a transparent overlay with the orientation, facial/ smile features and OVD shown over the tooth set up
5. This allows for manual modifications of the tooth set up within the wax bite parameters of the wax bite rim

Orientation: Frontal Plane & Occulsal Plane
A Fox’s bite plane tool is used to establish the orientation of the occlusal plane in an anteroposterior direction (Spee curve) and also the frontal plane against the interpupillary line.

With the use of a fox’s bite plane, we assess  the frontal plane by placing the fox plane on the bite block anteriorly and checking if it's parallel to the interpupillary line. Adjust the anterior section, if one side is higher or lower until this is level and parallel to the interpupillary line. Use a heated Rim Former or carve the wax.

The occlusal plane is assessed by placing the fox plane in the same position and placing a horizontal device e.g ruler from the ala of the nose to the tragus of the ear and making sure the orientation of the fo’x bite plane is parallel to to this.

This will set the parameters of how the anterior and posterior teeth will be placed for aesthetics, phonetics, comfort, chewing efficiency and balanced occlusion.  

Tissue support is determine by preference, clinical decision e.g checking the profile buccally of the previous denture. This determines how far the anterior teeth will be positioned forward and how thick the anterior flange will be.

Facial Features
Facial features sets the aesthetic parameters for the anterior teeth in terms of mould size, shape and selection, e.g width and height of anterior teeth & positioning of the teeth within the centre line & canine lines. All facial features should be scribed onto the upper bite registration with a cold wax knife, DO NOT use a hot wax knife as you can injure the patient.

Centre  line:
The centre line (mid line) is dictated via the philtrum, DO NOT use the nose, as this can give a false reading, as the nose is not usually centralised with the mid line of the face, and can be skewed. This allows for centralisation of the upper centrals to the exact mid-line of the patient.  

Canine line:
The canine lines are dictated via the width of the nose, this is common in 95% of humans. This determines the width of the anterior teeth in relation to the patient. The canines, should not go past this line, unless other factors dictate the canine lines e.g patient preference. The body / labial mesial body should be on or just after this line in the tooth set up, this will allow a natural alignment within the patients facial features.

Smile Features
The smile features work in sync with the facial features, for the creation of the anterior aesthetic parameters. This also determines how much tooth should be shown when the patients is smiling or how much is shown when the patients lip is at rest.

For example when the patient smiles and shows too much gum, this would mean that the smile line should be set higher and the anterior teeth should either be set higher or more of the necks of the teeth exposed to correct the 'Gummy Look'. You can also place a longer tooth if it stays within the parameters of the facial feautres.

Smile line (High lip line):
The smile line is dictated from the bottom of the upper lip at the highest point (high lip line). Ask the patient to preform a big smile and scribe this on the bite block at that level (cold wax knife, never use a heated instrument). This dictates how much tooth and gum is shown when the patient smiles, it also  dictates the dentogenics of the smile by optimising tooth positioning.

Low lip line:
The low lip line is dictated by many factors including age. Ask the patient or use the previous denture to dictate how much bite rim should be shown and make sure you tell the patient that this is how much tooth will be shown when the lip is relaxed.

With the combined parameters of the facial features and smile features, it creates a box, within that box is the parameters for the aesthetics of the denture which dictates, the positioning, width and height of the anterior teeth.

Click the 'NEXT PART 2' button to find out how we transfer this information from the bite registration in the laboratory into a tryin stage.

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