Strain Gauge Force Transducer and Virtual Instrumentation Used in a Measurement System for Retention Forces of Palatal Plates or Removable Dentures

This paper presents a measurement system—called TensoDentar—used for the evaluation of complete dentures or palatal plates dislodging forces. An original strain gauge force transducer and virtual instrumentation in a NI and LabVIEW environment are used, conforming to a rigorous clinical protocol to evaluate the efficiency of two surface treatments (sandblasting and plasma treatment) on complete denture base materials. This is a novel medical application that combines the strain gauge sensing technology, applied on a cantilever beam as an elastic element of a force transducer, with graphical systems engineering and virtual instrumentation, in a harmonized manner. The experimental results obtained and their statistical analyses are presented and interpreted.