Why do articulators make dentistry predictable?

Using an articulator. It is time to take it out of the closet. It’s not just a doorstop that they made you buy in dental school.

Instrument of precision

It’s an instrument of precision that we need to use in order to relate the condyle to the incisal edge of the maxilla and the arc of closure of the mandible. It allows us to do all of our diagnostics and all of our restorative in that actual arc of closure and at that angle as it relates to the human head. How we ever did anything, restoratively especially, without an articulator that relates the condyle to that maxilla, I have no idea.

Allows us to do Complete Dentistry

Being in the lab profession, we have used what Pete calls the wrist-o-lator off and on all of our careers. All of us, I’m sure, at least learned that way. And thank goodness that we have good precision articulators now that are semi-adjustable, have great settings, and relate that maxilla to that condyle and that arc of closure. It does allow us the only opportunity to do complete dentistry the way Pete taught us.

Learn more about predictable dentistry in Functional Occlusion: From TMJ to Smile Design.