Occludal Treatment Concidering Parafunction

Abstract

Each day, patients come into my office with their dental problems. When I studied gnathology several years ago, I treated patients with the use of articulators. But this procedure could not be implemented in all cases. There are several reasons for this.
The primary reason is due to the difference between the patients' varied masticatory processes and the rigid function of the articulator. The movements of the mandible serve several functions such as; swallowing, pronunciation, and mastication. These movements of human being are different from the border jaw movement of the articulator. The masticatory movements are mostly related to the occlusal pattern.
The second reason is due to the mandible position being affected by different personal habits (resting one's chin, sleeping on one side, chewing on one side, etc) and parafunction (mouth movements without purpose or conscious such as; grinding, clenching, tapping, tongue habit or lip habit.)
The following case report describe the success of treatment caused by considering function and parafunction such as examinations, diagnosis and actual treatment. I regard these cases would have failed according to former principles of gnathology.