Fabrication of a removable customized anterior guide table

Abstract

Anterior guidance is an important factor in prosthodontic treatment. To reproduce established anterior guidance, an anterior guide table is necessary. The types of anterior guide tables include a metal mechanical table and a flat plastic table. Adjusting the metal mechanical table to fit all of the excursive movements is not always possible. Therefore, the use of autopolymerizing acrylic resin or light-activated resin composite to augment a metal mechanical guide table or to completely fabricate a custom guide table on a flat plastic table is common. Although a special metal incisal table (Dovetail incisal block;WhipMix, Louisville, Ky) for this purpose is available, the plastic table is still the standard for most articulators. Once the custom guide table is made on the mechanical or plastic table, it cannot be removed until treatment is finished or the position will be lost. The result is that 1 articulator can be used for only 1 patient. This article presents a technique of fabricating a removable customized anterior guide table on the regular plastic table so that an articulator can be used for many patients at the same time.