Prosthodontics

Occlusal scheme and increased occlusal vertical dimension

Background.—During the fabrication of complete den-

tures, the occlusion may be altered by factors related to the
intrinsic properties of the materials and the techniques in-
volved or to extrinsic errors made by the dental technician
or dentist. An increase in the occlusal vertical dimension
(OVD) can be corrected through selective grinding. The
scheme for the occlusion of complete dentures can be
conventional balanced occlusion or lingualized balanced
occlusion (Fig 1). In the conventional balanced approach,
anatomical teeth are used, and the maxillary lingual and
mandibular buccal cusps occlude in centric relation to the
opposing central fossae and marginal ridges. In the lingual-
ized balanced occlusion, anatomical teeth in the maxillary Fig 1.—Schemes of occlusion for complete dentures: A, Conven-
denture and teeth with a simpler occlusal surface and lower tional balanced occlusion. B, Dotted lines indicate selective
cusp height in the mandibular denture are used. Only the grinding areas for transformation of conventional to lingualized
maxillary lingual cusps occlude in the mandibular central balanced occlusion. C, Lingualized balanced occlusion. (Reprinted
fossae and marginal ridges. Both occlusal schemes require from J Prosthet Dent, 96, Basso MFM, Nogueira SS, Arioli-Filho JN,
simultaneous contacts on the working and nonworking Comparison of the occlusal vertical dimension after processing
complete dentures made with lingualized balanced occlusion
sides on lateral movement and on the anterior and poste-
and conventional balanced occlusion, 200-204, The Editorial Coun-
rior teeth during protrusion. Lingualized balanced occlu-
cil of the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, Copyright (2006), with
sion tends to be less complicated because it requires permission from Elsevier.)
half the centric relation contact points demanded by
conventional balanced occlusion. Whether the occlusal
scheme chosen is a factor that alters OVD was investigated tures following the lingualized balanced occlusion scheme
in vitro. should be accomplished more easily.

Methods.—The controls consisted of 15 sets of com-

plete dentures formed according to conventional balanced
occlusion. These were compared to 15 sets of complete
dentures fabricated in lingualized balanced occlusion. Com-
pression molding using a long polymerization cycle was car-
ried out for all sets of dentures. Measurements of the OVD
were taken before and after processing each set.
Results.—The 2 groups did not differ significantly
in OVD measurements. The dentures in conventional
balanced occlusion and lingualized balanced occlusion
showed comparable mean increases in OVD of 0.872 and
0.897 mm, respectively.
Discussion.—The increase in OVD produced during
processing of dentures did not differ depending on the
occlusal scheme chosen. Complete dentures fabricated
according to conventional balanced occlusion and those
fabricated according to lingualized balanced occlusion
had similar increases in OVD. Occlusal adjustments to den-
Clinical Significance.—Numerous factors
have been demonstrated to contribute to an in-
crease of vertical dimension of occlusion when
processing full dentures. In this study, no signif-
icant difference was noted when 2 different oc-
clusal schemes were compared. However, it is
worthwhile to note that lingualized occlusion,
perhaps being simpler than balanced, tends to
be easier to adjust.
Basso MFM, Nogueira SS, Arioli-Filho JN: Comparison of the occlu-
sal vertical dimension after processing complete dentures made
with lingualized balanced occlusion and conventional balanced
occlusion. J Prosthet Dent 96:200-204, 2006
Reprints available from SS Nogueira, Faculdade de Odontologia de
Araraquara-UNESP, Dept de Materiais Odontológicos e Prótese, Rua
Humaitá 1680, CEP 14801-903, Araraquara, Sao Paulo, Brazil; fax:
55-16-33016406; e-mail: nogueira@foar.unesp.br

244 Dental Abstracts