Adjustment Mechanism of Adjustable Articulators

Abstract

Articulators were divided into the following three groups according to their adjustment capability for comparison.
Group 1: Articulators with balancing adjustment mechanism only.
Group 2: Articulators with balancing adjustment mechanism and changeable intercondylar distance mechanism.
Group 3: Articulators balancing and working adjustment mechanism and changeable intercondylar distance mechanism.
As far as the mandibular position of the balancing condyle is concerned, the articulators in all the groups can adjust it and completely reproduce the position of the human condyle. In the working side, however, adjustment range varies from group to group. When projecting to the sagittal plane, the articulators in the group 1 can express the condylar position only by a point. The articulators in the group 2 can express it by a line which is a continuity or points. The articulators in the group 3 have adjustment capability as a plane. In a three dimensional observation of this in connection with the first mandibular position from which lateral movement starts, the adjustment range of group 1 is a line which can be drawn horizontally, an area for the group 2 and a volume for the group 3, increasing adjustment capability a dimensional each. With an increase in adjustment capability, reproducibility naturally increases.
The adjustment of the condylar path is basically possible only on the balancing side of the articulators in the group 3. The curve of the lateral condylar path is more significant than that of the sagittal condylar path, taking the effects of tooth path on the condylar path into account.