The process of occlusion is dynamic starting from no force when the patient is open, until where the maximum occlusal force is generated at the point of maximum intercuspation, where the highest numbers of occlusal contacts occur. The occlusal force levels within the entire dental arch, rise in a logistic growth curve, where different growth curves can often be correlated to functional disorders.
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.