I got this photograph from someone who had his teeth repaired in Gikomba – the center of Kenya’s Juakali innovation, and another one of Kenya’s slums . The home made gadget looks pretty terrifying but check out the results!
Made from brass and modelled on something much more professional, this manual tooth mould (I’m sure there’s a technical name for this gadget) is cheap and brings smiles back to faces.
Actually, in many parts of the world this is the official way to cast acrylic teeth on plaster molds. Basically there is a negative space in the mold that uses lost wax method and you add the acrylic that will cure inside. The pressure is needed for there to be accurate molding and details to be passed on to the acrylic, and then you put it in a pot to cook, with press and all. I’ve done this myself. There is actually a video showing how the mold comes out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArIdedkm5Ao&feature=related
This one in particular doesn’t look that un-professional to me, looks just like the one I have at home. In Spanish the boxes are Muflas and the contraption is a Prensa
sorry, me again. Found the name for the process in English: Flasking.
meda has it right. When I worked in a dental lab here in the US we used flasks like this placed in an autoclave overnight to cure the acrylic. Nothing barbaric about it at all.
How do they mount the tooth on the Gums?