Mandibular rest levels with and without dentures in place in edentulous and complete denture-wearing subjects

Abstract

Denture wearers can be classified into three groups on the basis of their change in mandibular rest position as influenced by the presence or absence of their dentures. A majority of the subjects studied immediately lowered the rest level of the mandible upon insertion of their dentures; of the remaining subjects, some raised the mandibular rest level, and a few showed no change. When the edentulous rest position is used as a base line for evaluation of the vertical dimension of occlusion, it appears that an error of increasing the occlusal vertical dimension too far will occur in more than half of the patients.