Increasing the vertical dimension of occlusion

Abstract

A procedure for creating a balanced occlusion with cast gold crowns has been described. The procedure has several advantages. 1. When the gold skeleton crowns have been placed in the mouth and centric relation has been obtained, it is equivalent to having located the anatomic hinge axis of the mandible accurately. There is no fear that an error will develop when it is transferred to the articulator. 2. When the interfering spots on the gold skeleton crowns have been ground so the anterior teeth can come into edge to edge contact in right and left and forward mandibular positions, the dictates of the jaw movements have been carried out, and the precise degree of the vertical opening necessary has been established. 3. If there is a functional irregularity on one or both sides, the physiologic movement (including the Bennett movement) will have been accounted for because the data was obtained in the mouth which is the perfect articulator—the one no man can duplicate. 4. When the voids in the occlusal surfaces of the gold skeleton castings are filled with casting wax and chewed in, the small spines that jut into the voids permit the maintenance of the steepness of cusps and facilitate the final carvings of the occlusal surfaces when removed from the mouth. When the gold occlusal surfaces are cast directly to the gold skeleton crowns, the crowns are completed, as is the problem of the increase of the vertical dimension of occlusion. It is to be hoped that the simplicity of this method will be a stimulant for the practice of a much neglected phase of dentistry.