A denture retaining system and a denture bar constructed to be affixed in a human mouth, the denture bar including a distal end, lingual-side surface, vestibular-side surface, bone-facing surface and superstructure-facing surface opposite the bone-facing surface. The bone-facing surface at the distal end is relieved from the superstructure-facing surface at the distal end by an angle of between 10° and 25° relative to an axis perpendicular to a longitudinal plane passing through the lingual side and vestibular side surfaces of the denture bar. The system also includes an overdenture superstructure having a distal surface that substantially conformingly mates to the denture bar distal end when the overdenture superstructure is positioned against the denture bar superstructure-facing surface, and is coupled to the denture bar by at least one attachment element located at a position to an anterior side of a first molar position.