Abstract
The present study was designed to discuss the clinical application of the occlusal analyzer“T-Scan system”in the case of children. In the first experiment, the possibility of insertion of the sensor into the mouths of 112 children with primary and/or mixed dentition was examined. Also in order to confirm the accuracy of the representation of the tooth contacts on the T-Scan system clinically, in artificial premature contact,300μm in height, was applied to the teeth which were going to be treated by composite resin, or inlay or steel crowns in 20 children with mixed dentition. Occlusal changes were observed in three sessions; ie, before tooth preparation, before occjusal adjustment and after occlusal adjustment by using two analyzing modes of the T-Scan system; ie, the force snap shot and time analyzing modes. In each analyzing mode, the accuracy was evaluated using three grades; ie, good, relatively good and poor, in accordance with whether the T-Scan system could detect and represent the premature contact or not.
The results obtained in the present study were summarized as follows;
1) The sensor of the system was too large to apply to the children with primary dentition.
2) It was possible to detect occlusal changes accurately in 50% and relatively accuracy in 40% of 20 children by using the system. As far as the results of the present study is concerned, it is suggested that the T-Scan system would be appropriate for examining the occlusal contacts in children with mixed dentition.
