The purpose of this study is to investigate whether widely accepted ideals of occlusion are realized in the clinical practice setting. The objectives are to record in both static and dynamic function: (1) the number and distribution of occlusal contacts in both dental arches, and on individual fixed prosthodontic units, (2) types of occlusal contacts, (3) number and distribution of occlusal contacts that in theory have mechanically stabilizing and destabilizing effects.
Method:
The population sample included 58 patients, with an age range of 42-75, who attended the third year undergraduate fixed prosthodontic clinic at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. The quality and quantity of occlusal contacts of crowns were evaluated by a single investigator under 2.5 power magnification using double sided articulating paper and 8µ shimstock. Exclusion criteria included: presence of a removable partial prosthesis, history of orthodontic treatment and/or temporomandibular dysfunction, and a history of occlusal equilibration.
Result:
A total of 66 metal ceramic and full gold crowns were evaluated (n=66). Group function occlusion was the dominant type of dynamic occlusion (41%) and most of the clinical crowns demonstrated a guidance that correlated with their occlusal scheme (67%). Fifty four of the clinical crowns exhibited occlusal contacts (81%). Twenty four clinical crowns (36%) exhibited at least one occlusal contact, twenty crowns exhibited two occlusal contacts (35%). The majority of crowns exhibited clinical acceptable tight proximal contacts (78%); 12 crowns (18%) had light proximal contacts followed by 9 crowns (14%) that showed open proximal contacts.
Conclusion:
The results of this study demonstrate that the acceptable ideals of occlusion are mostly realized in clinical practice.