Surveying

BY
Sawa Wirya Ameen

Supervised by
Dr. Cheman Abdulrahman
BDS, MSc
Prosthodontics Department
College of Dentistry

2024

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Surveying
 to examine as to condition, value, or situation
 to determine the form and position of a given entity by means of taking
linear and angular measurements;
 to inspect or scrutinize.
Surveying: The procedure of locating and delineating the contour and position of
the abutment teeth and associated structures before designing a removable partial
denture.
Surveying is an analysis and comparison of the prominence of intraoral contours
associated with the fabrication of a dental prosthesis
A surveyor is a paralleling instrument used in making a dental prosthesis to locate
and delineate the contours and relative positions of abutment teeth and associated
structures; syn, PARALLELOMETER.
Objectives of surveying
 To determine the path of insertion of a prosthesis such that there is no
interference to insertion along this path.
 To mark the height of the contour of the area (hard or soft tissues) above the
undercut.
 To mark the survey lines, (height of contour of a tooth).
 To mark the undesirable undercuts into which the prosthesis should not extend.
 To design a RPD such that it's rigid and flexible components are appropriately
positioned to obtain good retention and bracing.
Types of surveyors
1. Ney's surveyor
2. Will's surveyor
3. Electronic surveyor

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 4. Paratherm surveyor
5. Stressograph
6. Broken arm cast surveyor
7. Optical surveyor
8. Laser surveyor
9. Parallelometer
The principal parts of the Ney surveyor are as follows:
1. Surveying Platform on which the base is moved
2. Cast holder/surveying table
3. Vertical arm that supports the superstructure
4. Horizontal arm from which the surveying tool suspends
5. Surveying arm: It extends vertically from the free end of the horizontal arm.
It is parallel to the vertical arm
6. Base on which the table swivels
7. Surveying tool or guideline marker (this tool contacts the convex surface to
be studied in a tangential manner; the relative parallelism of one surface to
another may thus be determined; with substitution of a carbon marker, the
height of contour may be delineated on the surfaces of the abutment teeth
and on areas of interference requiring reduction on blockout)
8. Mandrel for holding special tools.
An analyzing rod: It acts like a tangent to the convex surface of the object being
surveyed. It is more of a diagnostic survey tool It is the first tool to be used during
surveying. It is used to determine the parallelism of the tooth surfaces before
marking the survey line.
A carbon marker: They can be used to draw the height of contour of the object
being surveyed. Generally, they are used to draw survey lines, which denote the
height of contour of the teeth.
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Undercut gauges: Are used to accurately locate retentive undercuts on proposed
abutments. Undercut gauges are commonly supplied in 0.010-, 0.020-, and 0.030-
inch embodiments.
A wax knife: Is commonly used during blockout procedures and in the
construction of surveyed restorations.
Survey Process
 Identifying the most favorable tilt
 Path of insertion
 Tripoding the cast
 Placing survey lines
 Locating and marking measured undercuts
Survey Line: A line produced on a cast by a surveyor marking the greatest
prominence of contour in relation to the planned path of placement of a restoration;
syn, HEIGHT OF CONTOUR.
Survey lines can be classified as:
 High survey line
 Medium survey line
 Low survey line
 Diagonal survey line

Analyzing the cast

 The analyzing rod is the first surveying tool that should be used during any
survey procedure
 The cast should be rotated against the analyzing rod to analyze the presence
of undercuts (favorable and unfavorable) Unfavorable undercuts (soft tissue,
bony undercuts) should be eliminated.

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  Favorable undercuts can be created by preparing crowns over the abutment
teeth
 The removal of soft tissue undercuts is done during pre-prosthetic mouth
preparation
 If there is a deep unilateral soft tissue undercut, the cast can be tilted so that
the prosthesis can be placed using a different path of insertion without
interference
 The cast should not be tilted more than 10°
Uses of surveyor
1- Surveying the diagnostic and primary casts.
2- Tripoding the cast. (Recording the cast position).
3- Transferring the tripod marks to another cast.
4- Contouring wax patterns.
5- Contouring crowns and cast restorations.
6- Placing internal attachments.
7- Placing internal rests.
8- Surveying the master cast.
9- Surveying ceramic veneers before final glazing.
10- Block out of master cast
Surveying the Diagnostic and Primary Cast
The diagnostic cast should be surveyed before treatment planning whereas, the
primary cast is surveyed after the completion of pre-prosthetic mouth preparation.
The primary cast is surveyed to determine the required amount of prosthetic mouth
preparation, design, and mark the outline of the prosthesis.
Objectives of surveying the primary cast:
 To determine the most accepted path of placement that has the least
interference and the best aesthetics
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  To identify proximal tooth surfaces on which guiding planes can be
prepared.
 To locate and measure the retentive areas in a tooth.
 To determine the soft tissue and/or bony interferences which are to be
eliminated.
 To identify the height of contour.
 To identify undesirable undercuts that should be blocked out during
casting.
 To record the cast position for future reference.
 To plan and determine the required mouth preparation procedures like
preparing guiding planes, rest seats.
Surveying the primary cast includes:
 Analyzing the cast
 Surveying the soft tissue contours on the cast
 Surveying the teeth
The teeth are surveyed for the following reasons:
1. To determine the height of contour.
2. To determine the depth of the undercut.
3. To determine the location of undesirable undercuts.
4. To determine the parallelism of the abutments.
5. To determine the path of insertion of the denture.

Tripoding the primary cast

The angle of the path of insertion is maintained by maintaining the tilt determined
for the primary cast. To achieve this degree of tilt for the master cast, tripoding the
primary cast is done.

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  Recording the spatial orientation of the cast is done by a procedure called
tripoding
 Tripoding is a very simple procedure, wherein three different widely spaced
out points of a single plane are marked on the cast
Transferring the tripoding marks
This procedure is done to orient the master cast using the same angulation of the
primary cast. After tripoding the primary cast, three additional reference points are
marked on the cast using the same procedure described to mark the first three
tripod marks:
 Distal marginal ridge of the first premolar.
 Incisal edge of lateral incisor.
 Lingual cusp tip of the first premolar on the opposite side (opposite to the
side where the other two point were marked)
Contouring the wax pattern
A sharp instrument attached to the mandrel of the surveying arm can be used to
contour the wax pattern. A surveying wax knife (a surveying tool) is mounted on
the surveying arm to contour the wax pattern.
Contouring crowns and cast restorations
Just as we contoured wax patterns using a sharp instrument like wax knife, crowns
and cast restorations (metal) can be trimmed using rotary instruments attached to
the surveyor.
A handpiece holder is attached to the surveying arm. To this, a handpiece with a
cylinder stone is attached. The handpiece is switched on and the surveying arm
with the functioning hand piece is moved slowly over the sides of the restoration to
trim the excess crown material.

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Placing internal attachment
Intracoronal retainers, occlusal rests can be created on wax patterns using a rotary
handpiece. The intracoronal retainer is similar to a hook and a loop. The basic
principle on which an intracoronal retainer works is friction. The frictional
resistance is produced by the parallelism of the male and female components of the
retainer. This parallelism can be determined using a surveyor.
Placing internal rest seats
Internal rests are large box-shaped metallic extensions that function as intracoronal
retainers. They differ from internal attachments in that they are not pre-fabricated
and the rest seat formed by the sound tooth structure, functions as the keyway.