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Journal of Prosthodontics : Official... Jan 2021A virtual articulator is a computer software tool that is capable of reproducing the relationship between the jaws and simulating jaw movement. It has gradually gained... (Review)
Review
A virtual articulator is a computer software tool that is capable of reproducing the relationship between the jaws and simulating jaw movement. It has gradually gained research interest in dentistry over the past decade. In prosthodontics, the virtual articulator should be considered as an additional diagnostic and treatment planning tool to the mechanical articulator, especially in complex cases involving alterations to the vertical dimension of occlusion. Numerous authors have reported on the available digital methodologies used for the assembly of virtual arch models in a virtual articulator, focusing their attention on topics such as the virtual facebow and digital occlusal registration. To correctly simulate jaw movement, the jaw models have to be digitalized and properly mounted on the virtual articulator. The aim of this review was to discuss the current knowledge surrounding the various techniques and methodologies related to virtual mounting in dentistry, and whether virtual articulators will become commonplace in clinical practice in the future. This review also traces the history of the virtual articulator up to its current state and discusses recently developed approaches and workflows for virtual mounting based on current knowledge and technological devices.
Topics: Dental Articulators; Dental Occlusion; Jaw Relation Record; Models, Dental; Patient Care Planning; Prosthodontics; Vertical Dimension
PubMed: 32827222
DOI: 10.1111/jopr.13240 -
Medicina Oral, Patologia Oral Y Cirugia... Jan 2012The future of dental practice is closely linked to the utilization of computer-based technology, specifically virtual reality, which allows the dental surgeon to... (Review)
Review
The future of dental practice is closely linked to the utilization of computer-based technology, specifically virtual reality, which allows the dental surgeon to simulate true life situations in patients. The virtual articulator has been designed for the exhaustive analysis of static and dynamic occlusion, with the purpose of substituting mechanical articulators and avoiding their errors. These tools will help both odontologists and dental prosthetists to provide the best individualized treatment for each patient. The present review analyzes the studies published in the literature on the design, functioning and applications of virtual articulators. A Medline-PubMed search was made of dental journals, with the identification of 137 articles, of which 16 were finally selected. The virtual articulator can simulate the specific masticatory movement of the patient. During mandibular animation, the program calculates the sites where the opposing teeth come into contact. The studies made to assess the reliability of the virtual articulator show good correspondence in visualization of the number and position of the dynamic contacts. The virtual articulator is a precise tool for the full analysis of occlusion in a real patient.
Topics: Dental Articulators; Dental Occlusion; Humans
PubMed: 22157663
DOI: 10.4317/medoral.17147 -
Computer Methods and Programs in... Nov 2020Temporomandibular joint has been considered one of the most complex joints in human body. Dental articulation hinged upon temporomandibular joint is essential and...
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Temporomandibular joint has been considered one of the most complex joints in human body. Dental articulation hinged upon temporomandibular joint is essential and fundamentally important for dental restoration design and prosthetic/orthodontic occlusion analysis. As digital dentistry rapidly grows, a complete digital work flow requires the use of a digital articulator for occlusion analysis. However, commercial CAD/CAM systems do not provide any method to verify the modeling accuracy of a digital articulator. There is also a lack of detail and generalized mathematical modeling of the digital articulator for simulating the jaw movement.
METHODS
This paper presents the development of a digital articulator by mathematically modeling a general dental articulator which simulates the relative jaw motion between the maxilla and mandible. As the digital articulator moves, the digital upper teeth move relatively to the digital lower teeth, thus simulating the occlusal path with teeth collision detection function. To verify the accuracy of our modeled digital articulator, an improved optical tracking method is proposed to measure the pose of a mechanical articulator with 6 degrees of freedom and compare that with the digital articulator.
RESULTS
The digital articulator system proposed in this paper achieves the following functions: 1. Digitalize the dental articulator with verified precision. Combined with dental design software, restorations can be designed with more efficiency and accuracy. 2. Provide an improved optical tracking method which can compare the movement error between the mechanical articulator and digital articulator. Thus the accuracy of the digital articulation can be verified. The result shows the error of our system is controlled under sub-millimeter which provides sufficient accuracy for the design of restoration under static and dynamic occlusion conditions.
CONCLUSIONS
We develop a general digital articulator which can simulate jaw movement between opposing teeth and an improved optical tracking method to verify the accuracy of the digital articulator. The modeling and accuracy verification of the digital articulator shows that there is a systematic and reliable way to replace traditional mechanical articulator and can close the gap for digital restoration fabrication.
Topics: Computer-Aided Design; Dental Articulators; Humans; Mandible; Maxilla; Movement
PubMed: 32682091
DOI: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2020.105646 -
Kathmandu University Medical Journal... 2008
Review
Topics: Biomechanical Phenomena; Dental Articulators; Dental Prosthesis; General Practice, Dental; Humans
PubMed: 18604127
DOI: No ID Found -
The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry Dec 2022Currently available dental articulators have limitations for reproducing human mandibular movements. The present article describes an innovative device that is a true...
Currently available dental articulators have limitations for reproducing human mandibular movements. The present article describes an innovative device that is a true patient-specific anatomical articulator that accurately simulates patient anatomy and eliminates all technique-sensitive mounting procedures, thus substantially diminishing potential errors in mounting and articulator settings. By using three-dimensional (3D) printing technology, patient cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) data are used to print 3D replicas of the condylar fossae, as well as the actual condyles, at the correct intercondylar distance. The maxilla (maxillary teeth and edentulous ridge) is printed with the correct spatial relationship to the condylar complexes and the Frankfort horizontal plane (FHP). Those printed structures are then premounted onto a modified articulator frame to render it "anatomic." This new custom anatomical articulator, which accurately mimics patient anatomical movements rather than relying on average values, represents the first truly fully adjustable articulator that is more precise than can be generated by a pantographic tracing. It saves money, time, and effort by eliminating earbow transfers and mounting errors in complex prosthodontic treatment.
Topics: Humans; Dental Articulators; Jaw Relation Record; Maxilla; Mandible; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography
PubMed: 33814096
DOI: 10.1016/j.prosdent.2021.02.029 -
Wiadomosci Lekarskie (Warsaw, Poland :... 2022The aim: The purpose of the study was to determine the indications for the use of articulator in orthodontics based on the results of the analysis of scientific and...
OBJECTIVE
The aim: The purpose of the study was to determine the indications for the use of articulator in orthodontics based on the results of the analysis of scientific and foreign literature.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
Materials and methods: 23 scientific sources were selected, from more than 11 countries over the past 39 years (1981 - 2020) devoted to the use of orthodontics articula¬tors. As a result of processing 23 key international scientific papers on the use of articulators in orthodontics, we can talk about three areas of opinion regarding this problem.
CONCLUSION
Conclusions: To sum up 30.34% of authors consider the articulator to be an obligatory orthodontist's tool for correct diagnosis. The idea of 34.78% of specialists is that the articulator cannot simulate the physiology of the TMJ - therefore, it is more a source of additional errors than an assistant in the orthodontic diagnostics. The rest of the scientists (34.78%) agree that it is advisable to use the articulator selectively - namely, if the doctor deals with "complex" orthodontic pathologies.
Topics: Humans; Dental Articulators; Orthodontics
PubMed: 36591778
DOI: 10.36740/WLek202211221 -
The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry Feb 2020Complex digital workflows have been developed to create virtual dental patients. Direct and indirect digital methods are available for transferring analog patient...
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Complex digital workflows have been developed to create virtual dental patients. Direct and indirect digital methods are available for transferring analog patient information to virtual articulators. The direct method consists solely of digital workflows. The indirect method combines analog steps and digital procedures, representing an intermediate solution between the analog and direct digital approach. Studies that have investigated the overall accuracy of the virtual working space are sparse.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this clinical study was to investigate the accuracy of the virtual dental space using the indirect digital workflow.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Mounted gypsum casts of 18 patients were used for indirect scanning. The maxillary casts were mounted in their skull-related position with a kinematic facebow. The mandibular casts were mounted in centric relation to the maxillary casts. The obtained digitized casts were transferred to a virtual articulator. An occlusal analysis was performed both in the analog and virtual environments, and the coordinates of matching analog and virtual contact points were measured. The trueness and precision of the indirect transferring procedure were assessed.
RESULTS
A total of 194 analog points was considered in the reference. Ninety-three percent of all analog points matched a virtual correspondent, and 96% of the analog first contacts between the casts were also present as first contacts in the virtual space. The trueness of the data transfer, corresponding to the spatial distance between the matching analog and virtual points, was 0.55 ±0.31 mm. The maximum recorded deviation was 1.02 mm.
CONCLUSIONS
The correspondence between the number and position of analog and virtual contacts was high. The mean absolute deviation of the matching point-pairs was better than that reported for the direct digital method. Under the conditions described, the virtual dental space created with the indirect digital method can be reliably used for virtual occlusal analysis in clinical practice.
Topics: Dental Articulators; Humans; Jaw Relation Record; Mandible; Maxilla; Models, Dental
PubMed: 31227241
DOI: 10.1016/j.prosdent.2018.12.019 -
The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry Mar 2021Setting the condylar inclination of a dental articulator enables the delivery of prostheses without occlusal interferences. This technique article describes obtaining...
Setting the condylar inclination of a dental articulator enables the delivery of prostheses without occlusal interferences. This technique article describes obtaining the sagittal condylar inclination (SCI) by using a facial and an intraoral scan of the protrusive interocclusal position. The SCI can be used on a virtual articulator in dental computer-aided design (CAD) software programs, which can facilitate the fabrication of functional prostheses without occlusal interferences.
Topics: Computer-Aided Design; Dental Articulators; Jaw Relation Record
PubMed: 32220398
DOI: 10.1016/j.prosdent.2020.01.031 -
The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry Jan 2021A facebow transfer is typically used for mounting a maxillary gypsum cast in an ideal location in a mechanical articulator. However, the facebow transfer procedure is...
A facebow transfer is typically used for mounting a maxillary gypsum cast in an ideal location in a mechanical articulator. However, the facebow transfer procedure is difficult and may cause the patient discomfort. This proposed technique uses a patient's cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) data to reproduce the occlusal plane in relation to digital articulator scan data, align the patient's gypsum cast or intraoral scan data on the reproduced plane, and then transfer the data to a mechanical articulator.
Topics: Dental Articulators; Dental Occlusion; Humans; Jaw Relation Record; Maxilla; Models, Dental
PubMed: 32033790
DOI: 10.1016/j.prosdent.2019.10.022 -
International Journal of Computerized... 2002The virtual articulator (VA) is intended for use as a tool for the analysis fo the complex static and dynamic occlusal relations. Its chief application is in individual...
The virtual articulator (VA) is intended for use as a tool for the analysis fo the complex static and dynamic occlusal relations. Its chief application is in individual diagnosis and the simulation of the mechanical articulator. As entry data, the VA requires digital, 3-dimensional representations of the jaws and patient-specific data on jaw movement. It then simulates jaw movement and provides a dynamic visualization of the occlusal contacts. If no patient-specific data are available, the modus operandi of the mechanical articulator can be simulated. Virtual reality (VR) techniques applied in computer-aided diagnosis are revolutionizing medical routine in many disciplines. Particularly in the field of dental engineering, VR combined with CAD/CAM technology has great potential in implant planning and design in terms of greater precision and shorter treatment duration. The geometry of teeth can be digitized, the implant models can be designed with specialized CAD systems, and the final implants can be manufactured with a CNC machine. In this context, the virtual articulator completes the digital manufacturing process.
Topics: Computer Simulation; Dental Articulators; Humans; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; User-Computer Interface
PubMed: 12680040
DOI: No ID Found