1996 Volume 2 Issue 2 Pages 129-133
As a step to deepen our knowledge of masticatory biomechanics and to obtain functional background in a clinical situation, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the occlusal plane and masticatory movement. The masticatory movement and the inclination of the occlusal plane in the sagittal plane were measured on 41 normal young adults using the 6 degrees of freedom mandibular movement analyzing system and the 3-dimensional digitizer, respectively. There was a significant correlation between the inclination of the occlusal plane and the direction of the masticatory closing path outside the intercuspal range, and the occlusal plane and the masticatory closing path were consistent in maintaining at an almost perpendicular relationship with each other, regardless of the variation of the inclination of the occlusal plane. The correlation between them was confirmed by the finding that the amount of the balancing-side condylar translation during masticatory closure was also correlated with the inclination of the occlusal plane. The inclination of the occlusal plane has been identified as one of the contributing factors to masticatory movement by the present result, and this could serve as the functional background for the significance of the occlusal plane.
