Construction of a maxillary prosthesis with a hollow obturator by the balloon technique and a case report

The authors devised a new method for making a maxillary prosthesis with a hollow obturator, which was named the Balloon Technique. This new technique has a number of advantages over the conventional method in that it not only facilitates the molding of a soft plastic hollow obturator in a single process, but also simplifies the trial fitting of the completed obturator. Furthermore, it makes possible firm adhesion of the hollow obturator and the denture base by the hot-melt method while the denture base resin is cured. Finally, the completed maxillary prosthesis is extremely light.