Clinical Biomechanics 50 (2017) 84–91

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Clinical Biomechanics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/clinbiomech

The mechanics of dental occlusion and disclusion T

a,b,c,⁎ d
Thomas R. Katona , George J. Eckert
a
Department of Orthodontics and Oral Facial Genetics, Indiana University School of Dentistry, USA
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University School of Engineering and Technology, USA
c
Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, IN, USA
d
Department of Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, IN, USA

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Background: The mechanical environment associated with occluding teeth is the foundation for a wide range of
Dental occlusion research topics, clinical practice and dogma, product development and marketing, and medico-legal issues. The
Bite force purpose of this study was to experimentally examine the relationships between occlusal factors and their impact
Occlusal contact on the associated contact forces.
Clenching
Methods: Matching pairs of 0°, 20°, 33° and 40° cusp first molar denture teeth were placed into Class I, II and III
Non-carious cervical lesion
molar relationships. As the teeth were brought together into occlusion and then separated, the loads experienced
by the mandibular tooth were continuously measured by a load cell that was supporting it.
Findings: Loess smoothing splines were fitted to all data curves to calculate 95% confidence intervals. All lateral
force magnitudes and directions were statistically different when compared between classes of occlusion, cusp
angles, and occlusion vs. disclusion. Noteworthy counterintuitive observations were that the lateral contact force
components were generally higher during disclusion than occlusion, the peak lateral force magnitudes did not
always occur when the occlusal force was maximum, and the lateral contact force component magnitude can be
larger than the occlusal force.
Interpretation: Wedging and friction account for these unexpected results. The data indicate that each occlusion/
disclusion cycle is characterized by complex transient loads that may impact wear facet and non-carious cervical
lesion formation, implant and restorative failures, various aspects of occlusal trauma, and the concept of axial
occlusal loading.

1. Introduction
“Occlusion” impacts virtually all aspects of clinical dentistry, yet it
persists as a controversial and vitriolic subject (DiMatteo, 2008;
Ferreira et al., 2015; Fu and Yap, 2007; Rinchuse et al., 2005; Syrop,
2013; Turp et al., 2008) with broad clinical and medico-legal ramifi-
cations (Bucci et al., 2011; Manfredini et al., 2011; Reid and Greene,
2013; Turp and Schindler, 2012). It can be argued that the disputes
derive from a number of deeply ingrained dogmatic principles
(Carlsson, 2010) that contradict elementary, but rigorous, engineering
analyses (Helms et al., 2012; Katona, 2009; Katona, 2013).
Occlusion encompasses a large range of topics, but the focus is on
the engineering mechanics of occlusal contact between 2 teeth. Friction
and multiple inclined-plane (cusp) contacts interact to produce a
complex system, nonetheless the results of this relatively simple ex-
periment raise serious questions about some widely held conceptual
constructs, including the notion of axially directed occlusal forces, the
controllability of occlusal adjustments, the influence of cusp
angulations, and the role of occlusion in the development of wear facets
and non-carious cervical lesions (NCCLs).
2. Methods
2.1. Instrumentation and specimens
The apparatus (Fig. 1A) is secured onto the table of an MTS Bionix
858 (MTS Corp., Minneapolis, MN, USA) testing machine. It consists of
a wooden shelf base and a precision slide (Mini-Guide, Double Carriage,
Model #SEBS 9BUU2-195, Nippon Bearing Co, Niigata, Japan) that is
attached to a vertical support. The slide guides the maxillary molar that
is weighted-down for a total assembly weight of ~ 15 N. The man-
dibular molar is supported by a load cell (Gamma Transducer, SI-65-5,
ATI Industrial Automation, Apex, NC, USA; forces measured 0–65 plus/
minus 0.2 N, moments 0–5000 plus/minus 0.9 N-mm). The load cell is
screwed onto a piece of 10 in. × 10 in. × ¾ in. plywood that is
clamped to the above mentioned base to maintain the specified molar

⁎
Corresponding author at: Indiana University School of Dentistry, IUPUI, 1121 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA.
E-mail address: tkatona@iu.edu (T.R. Katona).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2017.10.009
Received 4 July 2016; Accepted 9 October 2017
0268-0033/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
T.R. Katona, G.J. Eckert
occlusal relationship, Fig. 1B. The MTS actuator is used to lower and
raise the weighted upper member with a #16 double-loop jack chain
(generic) while the loads on the lower tooth are recorded by the load
cell. The mandibular crown was potted with orthodontic resin
(Dentsply Caulk, Milford, DE) into a partly drilled-out 1/4-28-7/8
coupling nut (generic). The other end of the nut screwed onto the load
cell, Fig. 1C. Similarly, the maxillary crown was potted into an acrylic
tube. The tube was then screwed to the slide assembly.
A pair of left first molar denture teeth (Dentsply Portrait IPN,
Dentsply, York, PA, USA) were set into Angle Class I, II and III molar
relationships. All measurements used matched pairs of (α =) 0°, 20°,
33° and 40° cusps, Fig. 1B. Thus, 12 sets of data were obtained.
2.2. Engineering design
This experiment is based on fundamental principles of engineering
85
Clinical Biomechanics 50 (2017) 84–91
Fig. 1. (A) The testing apparatus. (B) Angle's molar classi-
fication. Class I reflects the normal position of the mandible
relative to the maxilla. Classes II and III correspond to a
retruded and a protruded mandible, respectively. α re-
presents the angle of the cusp indicated by the {. (C) All of
the individual occlusal contact forces on the crown combine
to produce the equivalent load system (Fx, Fy, Fz, Mx, My
and Mz) that is measured by the load cell.
mechanics. According to elementary statics, for a tooth in occlusion
(Fig. 2) to be in equilibrium, all forces acting on it must sum to zero
(translational equilibrium) and all of the moments produced by those
forces about any point must also sum to zero (rotational equilibrium).
The complex load system applied to the root by the PDL fibers and
matrix can be replaced by an equivalent force-moment system that
consists of 3 forces (Fx, Fy and Fz) and 3 moments of couple (Mx, My and
Mz) components, Fig. 1C. In the experimental design, these 6 load
components are measured by the load cell. However, nothing (magni-
tude, direction and location), and the number of such contacts, is
known about the individual occlusal contact forces. Acting together,
however, they must be in equilibrium with the loads measured by the
load cell. Therefore, in effect, the combined effects of the unknown in-
dividual occlusal contact forces were measured indirectly by the load
cell. That is sufficient for the purposes of this project.
T.R. Katona, G.J. Eckert
Fig. 2. Free-body-diagram of tooth in occlusion. The schematic depicts all external forces
that act on the tooth, including 4 occlusal contact forces and the tensions in the PDL
oblique and apical fibers (large arrows) and the distributed tension and compression
applied to the root by the PDL matrix (small arrows). Adjacent tooth contact forces and
pressure from the cheeks and tongue are ignored. Also note that the forces on the buccal
and lingual sides of the root are not shown.
2.3. Testing protocol
With the 0° cusps in a Class I molar relationship (Fig. 1B), the upper
member was manually lowered with the MTS onto the mandibular
tooth until a slight slack developed in the supporting chain, thus en-
suring that the full weight (~ 15 N) of the upper assembly rested on the
lower tooth. That height of the MTS's actuator was set as its 0.0 mm
position. The upper member was then manually lifted off the lower
tooth with the MTS. Then, the MTS-dedicated computer was started to
ramp cycle (4 mm amplitude at 0.2 Hz, or 1.6 mm/s) for 2 full cycles.
(The statistical analysis was performed on the data from the second
cycle.) During that time, Fx, Fy, Fz, Mx, My and Mz acting on the lower
tooth were recorded at 1000/s (Fig. 1B). Then, the entire process was
repeated with the Class II and then the Class III molar relationships. In
turn, the above steps were repeated with the 20°, 33° and 40° cusp pairs,
for the total set of 12 configurations. Each of the 12 data sets contained
Fx, Fy, Fz, Mx, My and Mz measurements for occluding and discluding.
2.4. Data analysis
For the data analysis, emphasis is placed on the in-occlusal plane
lateral force component, Flateral, and its direction, θ (Fig. 1C), because
Flateral is considered as the clinically most destructive (Dawson, 2006).
Flateral = (Fx2 + Fy2)½ and θ = arctan(Fy/Fx), where Fx and Fy are
measured by the load cell.
Fz serves as the independent variable in the data analysis for this
experimental design. It is the occlusal (vertical) force component
measured by the load cell. Fz is applied/removed by the lowering/
raising of the weighted maxillary tooth. The measured moment com-
ponents (Mx, My and Mz) could be calculated from the geometry and Fx,
Fy and Fz (Katona et al., 2014).
Loess smoothing splines were fitted by occlusion class, cusp angle,
and occlusion vs. disclusion to visualize and statistically test the asso-
ciations of Fz with Flateral and θ, as well as the other force (Fx, Fy) and
moment (Mx, My and Mz) components. Loess smoothing splines do not
assume any specific relationship (such as straight line linear relation-
ship) between the independent and dependent variables. 95%
86
Clinical Biomechanics 50 (2017) 84–91
confidence intervals were calculated for the spline functions.
Because of the large number of data points, and the lack of an
equation to represent the relationships that would be present in linear
regression, the occurrence of non-overlap of the confidence intervals
when comparing fitted lines was used to indicate statistically significant
differences between lines. While multiple loading cycles would have
introduced additional variation, experience with this model indicates
that between-cycle variation is very low. Figs. 3–5 clearly illustrate,
even without statistical tests, the assertions of varying relationships
among the parameters.
3. Results
The Flateral and θ results are graphed in Fig. 3. Loess smoothing
splines were fitted to all of these data curves, but the confidence in-
tervals are so narrow that, if plotted in these figures, they would be
indistinguishable from the spline curves. All Flateral and θ curves showed
non-overlapping portions of their confidence intervals for the
smoothing splines, indicating that there were statistical differences
(P < 0.05) in the curves when compared between occlusion classes,
cusp angles, and occlusion vs. disclusion. Similar statistical differences
were exhibited by Mx, My and Mz. Some Flateral are depicted as vector
arrows in Figs. 4 and 5.
4. Discussion
It is impossible to simultaneously measure the 3 characterizing at-
tributes (magnitude, direction and location) of an individual occlusal
contact force vector. (Articulating papers and T-Scan are inadequate
(Helms et al., 2012)). But, by supporting a tooth with a load cell, the
combined effects (i.e., the equivalent force-couple system) of all in-
dividual occlusal contact forces acting on the tooth can be measured.
Those measurements (Fig. 3) produced some unexpected and
counterintuitive results that impact clinical occlusion concepts and
dogma. It is not surprising that occlusion classes and cusp angles pro-
duced statistically different outcomes, but the other key findings were
largely unanticipated. General salient observations, in terms of the
Flateral force component (Fig. 3), include:
• The occluding and discluding F profiles differ. That is, the
lateral
corresponding solid and dashed lines do not coincide.
• In general, disclusion (dashed line) generates higher F than lateral
occlusion (solid line).
• The peak F magnitudes do not necessarily occur at the right
lateral
side of the graphs where the occlusal force (F ) is maximum.
z
• Some data are coincident with the ○-line (F = F ), indicating
lateral z
that Flateral can be as large as Fz. In one instance, discluding 33°
cusps in Class II, Flateral > Fz.
The last observation is explained by wedging. But as detailed below,
two basic engineering mechanics phenomena, friction and inclined-
plane interactions, account for the other counterintuitive observations.
The following scenarios are proposed as the mechanisms for the
behaviors displayed in Fig. 3. As the tooth was lowered into occlusion,
somewhere (suppose on the buccal incline of the buccal cusp of the
mandibular tooth) there was an initial contact, Fig. 6A, RD in Fig. 6B,
and R1 in Fig. 6C. As the weighted tooth was lowered further, the
contact slid along the opposing surfaces, and in so doing, the lateral
force component deformed the structure. The continued downward
movement of the upper tooth (combined with its, and the lower tooth's,
lateral deflections) resulted in R1 moving to R’1, Fig. 6C.
At this point, suppose that the teeth disclude. That means that the
direction of the relative movement between teeth is reversed, and
therefore, the force of friction, f’1, flips its direction to become f2,
Fig. 6D. As the teeth continue to disclude, f1 at the original contact
point becomes f’2. Since R = N + f, the contact force vectors during
T.R. Katona, G.J. Eckert Clinical Biomechanics 50 (2017) 84–91

0° cusp 20° cusp

6 6
Occl Discl ,

.
5 I 5
Flateral (N) 4 II
III 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
0 0
0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15
Fz (N)
250 250

200 200

150 150
θ (°)

100 100

50 50

0 0
0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15

33° cusp 40° cusp

6 6
.

5 5
Flateral (N)

4 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
0 0
0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15

250 350
300
200
250
150 200
θ (°)

100 150
100
50 50
0 0
0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15

Fig. 3. Lateral forces, Flateral = (Fx2 + Fy2)½, and their directions θ (arctan(Fy/Fx)) (Fig. 1C), for α = 0°, 20°, 33° and 40° cusps (Fig. 1B). The horizontal axes are the applied occlusal
force, Fz (N). Families of Class I, II and III (Fig. 1B) are depicted by the thick, medium and thin lines, respectively. The solid and dashed lines are the occluding (0 → 15 N loading) and
discluding (15 → 0 N unloading) directions, respectively. The dashed lines with the open circle marker (○) show the Flateral = Fz relationship. The vertical dashed lines at Fz = 7 and 14 N
indicate the data points used in Fig. 5.

loading (R1 and R’1, Fig. 6C) are different from the corresponding
contact forces during unloading (R2 and R’2, Fig. 6D). Thus, the di-
rection reversal of the force of friction explains the occluding/dis-
cluding asymmetries observed in Fig. 3.
Suppose that instead of discluding as in Fig. 6D, after the R’1 posi-
tion (Figs. 6C, 7A and the solid circle in Fig. 7B) is reached, the occlusal
force (Fz) is further increased. There are more deformations and the
contact continues to slide down the incline to become R”1, Fig. 7B.
Furthermore, due to R”1, the crown is translated toward the lingual and
rotated clock-wise. Similarly, by Newton's Third Law, the contact force
on the maxillary crown would translate that tooth to the buccal and
rotate it clock-wise. These deformations are consistent with the for-
mation of a second contact on the lingual incline of the buccal cusp, R2,
Fig. 7B.
Note that the horizontal components of the 2 hypothetical contact
forces (R”1x toward the lingual and R2x toward the buccal, Fig. 7B)
tends to cancel each other, summing to ~0 N. Therefore, when the
occlusal force (Fz) is relatively low and there is only one contact
(Fig. 7A), the magnitude of the lateral force component (R’1x) is greater
than the net lateral force (R”1x + (−)R2x ≈ 0) when the higher oc-
clusal force produces the second contact, Fig. 7B. Thus, counter-
intuitively, increasing the bite force can decrease the lateral force,
hence, the maximum Flateral does not necessarily occur at the right sides
of the Fig. 3 graphs where Fz is maximum. This suggests the seeming
impossibility that clenching can reduce damaging lateral forces.
As the occlusal force is further increased, new contacts are estab-
lished while some existing ones are eliminated. Eventually, the teeth
settle into maximum intercuspation (MIC) that is supported by an un-
known number of occlusal contacts. The technology to measure the
magnitudes, directions and locations of those individual transient

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T.R. Katona, G.J. Eckert Clinical Biomechanics 50 (2017) 84–91

Fig. 4. Flateral force components for Class I (thick lines in

1.5 6 4 10 Fig. 3) and 0, 20, 33 and 40° cusps. The thick, gray arrows with
Class I, 0o cusps 8
Occlusion 12, 14 8
Class I, 20 cusps o
14 open heads represent the Flateral vector during occlusion. The
10 Disclusion numbers indicate Fz in 2 N increments (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and
12 6
12 14 N). The thin black solid head arrows represent the Flateral
Fz = 14 (N) 4
3
1 10 vector during the subsequent disclusion, with 2 N decrements
Fz = 14 (N)
(14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 and 2 N, italicized) in Fz. Note the expanded
8
Fy (N)

scale for the 0°cusp plot.

Fy (N)
4
2
6
12
2
0.5
4 2
10 1

8 2
L
6 L
0 M D
4 0 D
-1 -0.5 0B 0.5 M
-3 -2 -1 0B 1
Fx (N)
Fx (N)

2 3
Class I, 33o cusps Class I, 40o cusps

1 2
6 4
86 4 8
10 10
12 2
Fy (N)
Fy (N)

L 12
4 2 2
0 6 M D 1 14 14
8 2 B
10 6 4
12 10 8
14 14 12
L
-1 0 M D
B

-2 -1
-3 -2 -1 0 1 -3 -2 -1 0 1
Fx (N) Fx (N)

contact forces are not yet available (Helms et al., 2012; Lin et al., 2011), • In fact, on closer examination, the F lateral of the 33° cusps in Class III
but the load cell continuously recorded their complex combined net with 7 N occlusal force (4.93 N in loading and 4.87 N in unloading)
effects, Fig. 3. tend to be slightly larger than those of the 14 N occlusal force
It is also apparent from Fig. 3 that teeth are unlikely to mesh di- (4.57 N in loading and 4.50 N in unloading). Similarly in Class II.
rectly into (or out of) MIC. As the occlusal force (Fz) is increased (solid • Class III produces the largest magnitudes of Flateral (Fig. 5A).
lines) or decreased (dashed lines), contacts form, slide or separate, • With 40° cusps, the Flateral act in the M-L, M-B and the D-B direc-
Figs. 6 and 7. It is speculated that changes, particularly the abrupt ones, tions, respectively, in Class I, III and II (Fig. 5A).
in Fig. 3 are manifestations of new and/or separating contacts. Steps, • With 0° and 33° cusps, the Class I and Class III Flateral act at 90° to
most visible with the 33° cusps, are likely due to such new/broken each other (Fig. 5A).
contacts. Clinically, this may be felt as fremitus. • In Class II, the 33° and 40° cusp-produced Flateral act in opposite
Thus, MIC is not achieved in one fell swoop, teeth do not disclude in directions (Fig. 5B).
a single continuous step, and because the associated contact forces are • The extreme cusp angles (0° and 40°) yield smaller Flateral than the
different, occlusion and disclusion do not follow the same paths, sug- 20° and 33° cusps (Figs. 3 and 5B).
gesting that they form different wear facets (Benazzi et al., 2014).
Furthermore, during each occluding/discluding cycle, the teeth ex- The vector arrow depictions in Fig. 4 also highlight some peculiar
perience a continuum of lateral force magnitudes and directions, Fig. 4. behaviors. For example, during the occlusion of the 33° cusps, the
These multi-direction cyclical loads, with lateral force components that magnitude of Flateral increases steadily with Fz, as expected, and its di-
can exceed the occlusal force magnitude, may have profound, here- rection remains constant. In contrast, during disclusion, the magnitude
tofore unexplored, implications for restoration failures, non-carious of Flateral remains relatively unchanged for a broad range (14, 12, 10, 8
cervical lesions (NCCLs) (Guimaraes et al., 2014) and the dogmatic and 6 N) of Fz. Similarly, during disclusion of the 40° cusps, the Flateral
principle of long-axis aligned occlusal forces. magnitudes also remain relatively unchanged for Fz = 14, 12, 10, 8 and
When depicted as force vector arrows, Fig. 5, the lateral forces ex- 6 N. However, during occlusion, the Flateral magnitudes remain rela-
hibit other unanticipated behaviors. tively constant but their directions change by about 45°. This is dif-
ferent from the 33° cusp occlusion.
• Some F lateral vector components produced by 7 N occlusal forces (Fz) During the occlusion of the 20° cusps, the Flateral magnitudes and
are nearly identical in magnitude and direction to those produced by directions change with increasing Fz, but for Fz = 14, 12, 10 and 8 N
the 14 N occlusal force. Despite this 1:2 ratio in Fz, the 4 combi- disclusion, the Flateral magnitudes and directions are closely clustered
nations (7 N vs. 14 N Fz and occluding vs. discluding) associated together. With further disclusion (Fz = 6, 4 and 2 N), the Flateral mag-
with 33° degree cusps in Class III (Fig. 5A and B) produce virtually nitudes decrease and their directions change.
coincident lateral force vectors. Similarly for 20° and 33° cusps in Thus, each cusp angulation/molar relationship combination pro-
Class II, and flat plane (0°) in Class III. These observations are in duced characteristic, but unpredictable, lateral force vector magnitudes
concordance with the previous counterintuitive suggestion that in- and directions. It must be emphasized that the Class I vs. II vs. III
creasing occlusal forces can reduce lateral forces, Fig. 7. designations are used to characterize different relative positions of the

88
T.R. Katona, G.J. Eckert Clinical Biomechanics 50 (2017) 84–91

Fig. 5. Selected Flateral displayed as force vector arrows.

A 0° cusp Families of I, II, III 20° cusp Families of I, II, III The thin and thick arrows represent Flateral during loading
3 5
Occlusion (7 N) III (occluding) and unloading (discluding), respectively. The
Disclusion (7 N) dashed and solid arrows correspond to the occlusal force,
2 4 I
I Occlusion (14 N) III Fz, equaling 7 N and 14 N, respectively. (A) Each graph
1 3 II shows the results for a cusp angulation with families of
II
Disclusion (14 N)
III
θ Class I, II and III occlusions. Similarly, each (B) shows the
Fy (N)

Fy (N)
L I
0 M D 2 data for one class of occlusion, with families of cusp an-
B

III gulations. The identical data are graphed in (A) and (B).
-1 1

L θ
-2 0 M D
B

-3 -1
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
Fx (N) Fx (N)

33° cusp Families of I, II, III 40° cusp Families of I, II, III
5 3
III

4 2
II I
3 1
θ
Fy (N)

Fy (N) L
2 0 M D
B

1 -1
II
L
θ
0 M D -2
B
I III
-1 -3
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
Fx (N) Fx (N)

B Class I Families of 0, 20, 33, 40° cusps Class II Families of 0, 20, 33, 40° cusps
4 20
4
Occlusion (7 N) 33
Disclusion (7 N) 3 20
3
Occlusion (14 N)
20
Disclusion (14 N) 2
2
Fy (N)

Fy (N)

40 40 0 1
1 0 L θ
0 M D

L
θ B
40
0 D
M
B
-1
33

-1 -2
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
Fx (N) Fx (N)

Class III Families of 0, 20, 33, 40° cusps

5
33
20
4

2
Fy (N)

1
L
θ
0 M D
0 B

-1

-2
40
-3
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
Fx (N)

teeth, the significance being that the arrangements are different, not identical. Furthermore, the contact force vectors are also sensitive to
that they are specifically Class I vs. II vs. III. factors such as the type of saliva (McCrea et al., 2014) and the presence
of occlusal marking products (Helms et al., 2012).
The focus of this paper is solely on the mechanics of direct crown-
4.1. Limitations of the model crown interface contacts. In that context, as noted above, the wide
range of tooth mobilities (healthy vs. ankylosed vs. periodontally
An anticipated criticism of this study design is that the stiffness of compromised vs. implant supported, …) also plays a role. An occlusal
the testing apparatus is different from that of the natural dentition. But interference, for example, could cause the mandible to shift, but it will
clinically, the stiffness of a healthy tooth is also very different from that also cause the contacting teeth to deflect within their sockets (in the
of a periodontally compromised tooth, an ankylosed tooth, an implant presence of a PDL) and/or cause deformations of the teeth and sup-
supported crown, a bridge pontic or abutment, or a full denture tooth. porting bone (with or without a PDL). In fact, we rely on these de-
Similarly, belying its relatively massive appearance, the instrumenta- flections to explain our measurement observations, Fig. 6 and 7.
tion exhibits flexibility between the teeth. Thus, qualitatively and me- It is important to note, as pointed out above, that the testing
chanistically, all of these clinical examples, and our apparatus, are

89
T.R. Katona, G.J. Eckert Clinical Biomechanics 50 (2017) 84–91

Fig. 6. Occlusal contact forces. (A) When 2 curved surfaces

A B contact, (B) the contact force vector (R) is the vector sum of
the normal (perpendicular, N) and the force of friction (f)
Common
components, R = N + f. f acts along the contact surface,
tangent and if the impending, or actual, motion of the upper tooth is
downward (or the lower tooth upward) then the sense of the
RD
friction force is toward the left and down, fD. If the motion
of the upper tooth is upward (or the lower tooth downward)
N then the sense of the friction force, fU, is upward to the
RU right. In both instances, the contact force is the vector sum,
R = N + f. Thus, in this illustration, as the teeth occlude,
fD the contact force on the mandibular tooth, RD, would be
fU nearly vertical. But during disclusion, the contact force, RU,
is more horizontal. (C) and (D) show the movements of the
contact point, and the associated contact forces, as the teeth
occlude (● ⇨ ○ in C) and disclude (● ⇨ ○ in D), respec-
tively.

C R1 D
N1 N’2
R’1 R’2
f1
f’1 f’2
N2
N’1
R2
f2

apparatus is not as rigid as it may appear to be. If it were rigid, then the they contribute more and more to the guidance of the mandible, and
only possible tooth-tooth contact would be the first one because all therefore, tooth mobility becomes a dominant factor. Highly variable
subsequent contacts could only happen if the structure deformed (or muscle activity is also a confounding factor, because in actuality, even
broke). Another consideration is that as cusp contacts are established, in vivo, the mandible is not necessarily free to move laterally.

Fig. 7. Multiple contacts. (A) If, with contact R’1, the occlusal force
A B is increased, (B) the contact slides ● → ○, and R’1 changes in
magnitude and direction to become R”1. (Note that in Fig. 6 the
contact forces were resolved into normal (N) and friction force (f)
components. For the purposes of this figure, they are expressed in
terms of their horizontal and vertical components.) And because of
the concomitant deformations, a new contact (R2) is formed.

R’1 R”1 R”1z

R’1z R2z R2
R’1x R”1x
R2x

Buccal Lingual

90
T.R. Katona, G.J. Eckert
Our claim is simply that the overall flexibility of our simulator is
somewhere within the very broad range of human tooth-tooth flex-
ibility, and therefore, qualitatively and mechanistically, our measure-
ments are reasonable.
4.2. Clinical implications
In basic mechanics, a vector is characterized by its magnitude and
direction. Furthermore, a complete force vector representation requires
that its point-of-application (or line-of-action) be also specified. But in
the dental literature, it is not unusual, for the sake of simplicity or
convenience, or simply because of incorrect applications of engineering
principles, that not all 3 characteristics of a force vector are taken into
account. By often focusing solely on force magnitudes, these omissions
have led to a legacy of erroneous concepts, unfounded dogma, and
ongoing controversies.
These laboratory measurements of the complete load systems on
contacting teeth clearly demonstrate that occlusal contact forces are
typically accompanied by lateral forces within the occlusal plane
(Flateral), and those lateral forces change in magnitude and/or direction
during an occlusion/disclusion cycle. Therefore, the results of this study
have potential implications in a wide range of dental applications.
• The presence of transient F lateral forces, occasionally larger than the
occlusal force (Fz) itself, disallows the clinically advocated (osten-
sibly) ideal axial occlusal force on a tooth. (The same conclusion was
reached with analytical models (Katona, 2009).)
•
The proprietary Center of Force calculations (Ahuja, 2009) of the T-
Scan system is apparently predicated on the assumption that oc-
clusal contact forces are perpendicular to the occlusal plane, and
therefore parallel to each other. The non-zero Flaterals measured in
this study challenge those assumptions.
• The Flaterals did not necessarily reach their maximum magnitudes
when the occlusal force (Fz) was at its maximum. This suggests that
clenching can function to reduce damaging lateral forces on teeth.
• In the past, some dental phenomena, concepts and principles (mesial
drift, formation of NCCLs, restorative failures, TMD, dental pain,
…), have been (successfully or unsuccessfully) linked to occlusal
forces. But the results of this study indicate that there is no such
thing as a unidirectional occlusal force – the loads experienced by a
tooth during an occlusion/disclusion cycle are generally transient in
direction and magnitude. Thus, established relationships (or the lack
thereof) with occlusal forces may have to be revisited.
In general, it is erroneous to assume that occlusal forces on teeth are
unidirectional.
5. Conclusions
The data provide clear evidence that occlusal contact force behavior
is transient, complex, unpredictable, and frequently, counterintuitive.
The mechanical environments associated with the most basic occlu-
sion/disclusion contact cycle are far more intricate than those produced
by the traditional unidirectional force assumptions. This has far
reaching implications for theories, dogma, and clinical practice that
involve occlusion.
91
Clinical Biomechanics 50 (2017) 84–91
Disclosure/Acknowledgements
The authors thank Dr. Manuel B. Hernandez-Garcia for his assis-
tance in data collection. There are no conflicts of interest. This research
did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public,
commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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