Why is a facebow transfer is essential to treatment?

So facebows are essential and a key point in dental treatment. We want to capture the facebow records for two very important reasons. By relating the maxillary arch to the condyles, we get a couple of very key pieces of information.

How maxillary plane fits into space

One, we’re going to see exactly how the maxillary plane fits into space. What that allows us to do is maximize esthetics. If a patient has a cant, it’s going to allow our lab technicians to relate that to a bench top, a horizontal plane, so that we can appropriately correct that.

Finding the appropriate arc of closure

The other reason why we want to use a facebow is, by allowing the incisal edge to be related back to your condyles, you get the appropriate arc of closure that best mimics what’s actually happening in the patient’s mouth. Our clop-clop kind of articulators, they don’t do that. Changing the arc of closure means you’re going to end up having to really adjust your posterior crowns as well as any anterior work you do. So facebows are great for anterior and posterior teeth. It’s going to help minimize your adjustments, chair time, and really give you beautiful esthetics.

To learn more about using the facebow and other key records in Core 2: Examination & Records