Functional Aesthetics in Implantology and Reconstructive Dentistry: Analysis and Transfer of Referenced Individual Patient Information With the PlaneSystem®

Abstract

The goal of every dental treatment should be a sustainable and functional care which is adapted to the individual movement patterns. In this context, a structured and anatomically accurate functional analysis can contribute to the correct muscular and skeletal adjustment of patients in order to develop the correct treatment strategy, which then guarantees a permanently stable reconstruction. The individual and whole-body analysis as well as the dental history of the patient and the correct transfer into the articulator play an important role. How accurately can the dental technician judge the actual situation of the patient? How realistic are planes, chewing patterns, jaw joint movements and closing angles represented in the articulator compared to the oral situation? Innovative aspects such as the reference to the natural head position (NHP), the exact determination of the anatomical centre and the correct three-dimensional transfer into the articulator are decisive factors which influence the success of the treatment. This article focuses on the realistic, correctly positioned transfer of the casts and other anatomical parameters into the analogue or virtual articulator. The development of the function-analytical method is presented using the PlaneSystem®. The detection of patient-specific details using the analogue method (e.g. head posture, facial proportions, physiognomic landmark, cast analysis, cast orientation, movement recording, joint mechanics, lower jaw position in physiological, unmanipulated centric) as well as the digital procedure (e.g. facial scan, three-dimensional analysis, photo documentation) and their transfer into the articulator form the basis. The occlusal plane and asymmetries are measured individually for each patient and transferred into the articulator in the same way as the vertical dimension of the occlusion (VDO) and the alignment of the lower jaw. All collected information can finally be integrated into a digital workflow so that reference can be made to purely virtual solutions. In the following, the necessity out of which the systematics developed as well as the individual development stages are described. Furthermore, the potential is illustrated in that the use of this method offers to the prosthetic working team.