Many dental materials research projects have been reported in the first 15 years in the 21st century, such as development and characterization on adhesion, metallic materials, ziroconia ceramics, composites, denture materials, etc. These materials are expected to be frequently used in future. The materials used for dental treatments in the aging society are being of importance. Dental materials are required to have nature of functional materials in addition to the role of structural materials. The materials in the coming future need to have traceability through the production stage to clinical service, less technical sensitivity for handling and the concept on failsafe for application. Feedback data from clnical practice are essential for development of safer and better dental materials in the 21st century.

Patients often express their satisfaction such as “feel better”, “able to chew better”, etc in response to provision of balanced occlusion by remounting and occlusal adjustment of complete dentures (hereinafter, remounting procedure). The author has evaluated recovery of masticatory ability, recording food test by camcorder after the remounting procedure. In order to scrutinize the effect of this procedure, the author farther investigated the outcome; a total of 70 patients (23 male, 47 female) with complete dentures underwent the masticatory ability test before and after the remounting procedure. Masticatory ability was measured on the basis of glucose concentrations in samples, using a commercially available measurement kit. The results demonstrated at least 10％ of improvement in masticatory ability in 92.8％ of patients, presenting 41.8％ increase in flowed glucose concentration on average while 68.1％ increase was seen in patients with low masticatory ability before the remounting procedure. This shows effectiveness of the remounting procedure and brings to light the fact that many patients are accustomed to ill-adjusted dentures.

We have learned from previous studies that arrangement of artificial teeth affect the palatal volume. This indicates that lingual function might be limited or influenced by confined tongue space. Measuring tongue pressure is another way of evaluating lingual function. The balloon probe instrument allows easy and stable measurements, yet it has not been used in studies concerning dentures. As such, this study was conducted to investigate the relationship between palatal volume and lingual pressure with dentures in the mouth. As a result, female patients exhibited considerably lower values of lingual pressure (because of this, subsequent investigations were carried out with male patients). The morphology of palate did not affect lingual pressure. Palatal plates of different designs gave patients different types of foreign body sensation. With 1.5mm thick plates lingual pressure did not vary irrespective of palatal designs while with 3.0mm thick plates lingual pressure varied with different palatal designs. The series of experiments revealed that decrease in palatal volume induced decrease in maximum tongue pressure. Considering this effect—even if it is temporary, decrease of palatal volume should be avoided or kept to minimum.

It has been reported that the occlusal plane generally parallels the Camperʼs plane, but de viations are not rare. The purpose of this study is to conduct a statistical analysis of the relation ship between occlusal plane and Camperʼs plane by cephalometric analysis using 3DCT (three dimensional computed tomography), which has an advantage over two dimensional X-ray images enabling more accurate measurements of soft and hard tissues. The cephalometric analyses were conducted based on mid-sagittal 3DCT images of patients with dentition (N=50), using the sella nasion (SN) plane as a reference standard. The anteroposterior morphology is examined by the angle of the nasion-mentum (N-Me) line against the SN plane and the vertical morphology by the angle of the mandibular plane against the SN plane. A correlation of these angles to the angle of the occlusal plane against Camperʼs plane was investigated by multiple linear regression analysis, and meaningful correlations were found (p<0.01). This indicates that facial profile shape is cor related to positional relationship between occlusal plane and Camperʼs plane. In occlusal recon struction using Camperʼs plane as a reference standard, the patientʼs original occlusion may be better reconstructed, if the angle of the N-Me line against the SN plane and the angle of the man dibular plane against the SN plane are taken into consideration and disagreement between the occlusal plane and Camperʼs plane is added to reference standards.

Anatomically and morphologically sound occlusions are not necessarily functionally sound. The purpose of this report is to present a systematic treatment approach based on morphological analysis and quantitative measurement of masticatory ability. First conducted were various morphological and functional analyses for 10 patients with dentition having no subjective symptom of mastication disorder. Then, a patient with a chief complaint of mastication disorder, who was diagnosed as being in need of occlusal reconstruction, underwent the same analyses before and after the treatment. The comparison between before and after treatment valuations allows quantification of masticatory ability and its improvement. “Comfortable occlusion”—what patients seek—is a subjective perception, so availability of quantitative analysis of masticatory ability is clinically significant.

The konus telescope crown (hereinafter abbreviated as Konus), thanks to its wide applicability before and after prosthetic treatments, makes a systematic, comprehensive and seamless dental treatment possible. Especially, required in severe cases of multi-tooth caries, multi-tooth loss, periodontal disease or occlusal collapse, etc, is a consistent, systematic treatment that enables us to make a life-long prognosis. It is desirable that stable occlusion and chewing function acquired in this way remain stable throughout the patientʼs life course only by simple maintenance care. In this paper, I would like to present a 22-year-long case that has kept pace with aging, taking full advantage of easy maintainability, which is one of the characteristics of the comprehensive consistent treatment system.

The relationship between oral health and systemic and mental health has been frequently reported. However, few studies have analyzed such relationship objectively, using numeric data. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between the number of teeth and fitness score, such as Body Mass Index (BMI), Percent Body Fat, Visceral Fat Index, and other body composition metrics, such as fat and protein, using a body composition analyzer. In addition, the patients over 60 years old were selected, and the same study was conducted, expecting a clearer correlation between them. As a result, the correlation between the number of teeth and health index, such as fat was confirmed.

Objective: In the present study, we achieved a good outcome in restoring the occlusion of a patient with multiple missing teeth by examining mandibular function and position to determine the vertical dimension of occlusion (VDO) and then restoring occlusion using a provisional restoration. Methods: The patient was a 61-year-old man who visited our facility with a chief complaint of difficulty with chewing. The patient had no vertical stop due multiple missing molars and was only able to bite or chew with his anterior teeth while irregularity was also seen in his anterior coupling. After extracting the teeth with poor prognosis and completing initial treatment, we fabricated the provisional restoration after determining the patient's centric relation using a gothic arch to examine mandibular position including mandibular function. After a follow-up duration and confirming stability, we fitted the final prosthesis. Results: We succeeded in restoring proper centric relation and masticatory function. Discussion and Conclusion: Determining centric relation and achieving stability with a provisional restoration before fitting of the final prosthesis lead to a desirable treatment outcome and successful restoration of occlusion.

Orthodontic diagnosis is chiefly based on evaluation of the hard tissue. However, considering esthetic harmony between the external of the face—which is soft tissue—and oral appearance, evaluation of soft tissue cannot be belittled. Discussed in the present paper is a case of a female patient with a chief complaint of mandibular protrusion. The patient was diagnosed with skeletal mandibular protrusion accompanied by excursion of the mandible; in the diagnosis and treatment evaluation is employed the sub nasal vertical (SNV) line, which indicated the need of sliding the chin back by osteoplasty in conjunction with orthodontic treatment. The SNV line was instrumental in esthetic evaluation, diagnosis and clarifying treatment planning.

New complete dentures were made for a patient who had spent a few decades without teeth or dentures. At first the patient showed averse to wearing dentures partly due to discomfort and appeared skeptical about improvement in chewing ability. An array of food tests along with chewing training, however, helped the patient regain confidence and in turn widened the variety of foods she enjoys. This case highlighted the importance of continuous use of dentures and effect of chewing training. 【顎咬合誌　36（1･2）：80-81, 2016】

TMJ internal derangement (ID) is the most frequent type of temporomandibular disorders (TMD). In this paper, clinical nature of TMJ ID was outlined. TMJ ID is usually chronic and irreversible pathological condition, which may occasionally cause clinical symptoms/signs. The progression of the disease is self-limited and both signs and symptoms improve with time in most persons. Progression of ID is frequently associated with development of degenerative bone changes seen in the condyle and temporal fossa, which may play a key role in recovery of the TMJ function.