The purpose of this paper is to study the morphology of occlusal facets which suits a proper jaw movement. A theoretical base surface in order to determine the morphology of occlusal facets was designed with the assumption that occlusal contacts exist on both intercuspal position and eccentric position. The three-dimensional morphology of the occlusal facets in 3 subjects with normal dentition was recorded. The data of the three-dimensional morphology were compared with those of the theoretical base surface.
The results were as follows:
1. A occlusal reference surface was deviced as the theoretical base surface. This surface consists of various paths of mandibular movements or complementary mandibular movements.
2. Occlusal facets with large area show a tendency of increasing number of occlusal facets which are in good accordance with the occlusal reference surface.
These data indicate that the idea of the occlusal reference surface is clinically applicable.
