A computer assisted diagnostic device, that when used intraorally, can estimate occlusal force. It involves a two-stage process where first, the patient occludes into a pressure-sensitive wax wafer that changes color locally, depending on the pressure levels exerted throughout differing sites on the wafer. The second step involves computer scanning of the imprinted wax wafer, to analyzes the observed color changes. The Dental Prescale System does not provide any information about the timing of the occlusal contact sequence, or the temporal sequence of occlusal force buildup.
Published in Chapter:
Precision and Reliability of the T-Scan III System: Analyzing Occlusion and the Resultant Timing and Distribution of Forces in the Dental Arch
Bernd Koos, DMD (University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Germany)
Copyright: © 2020
|Pages: 29
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-9254-9.ch003
Abstract
Precise analysis of occlusal contacts and occlusal force is a problem in functional diagnostics that has not yet been satisfactorily resolved, despite the fact that the deleterious consequences of an unbalanced occlusion are widespread, and can be severe. In clinical practice, the present-day analysis of the occlusion is reduced to depicting force with color-marking foils that leave ink marks upon the teeth. However, these foils only indicate the localization of contacts, but do not describe reliably the occlusal force relationships. Precise analysis that incorporates time resolution, and plots the distribution of forces within the occlusion, is not possible when employing the traditional occlusal indicator methods. A detailed occlusal force and timing analysis can only be provided by performing a computer-assisted analysis, using the T-Scan III system (Tekscan, Inc. S. Boston, MA, USA), which records changing relative occlusal force levels and real-time occlusal contact sequence data, with high definition (HD) recording sensors. The following chapter demonstrates the accuracy and reliability of this computer-based occlusal measurement method that reliably describes the time-dependent distribution of occlusal force evolution.