Articulators and

Articulation
Dr Abdul Lateef
Articulator

•  Articulator may be defined as a mechanical device that

represent the temporomandibular joint and jaw members to
which maxillary and mandibular casts may be attached to
simulate jaw movement
Function
•  It allow most of the prosthetic work to be done in the absence
of the patient
Purpose
•  To hold the maxillary and mandibular casts in a determined
fixed relationship
• Mounting of dental casts for diagnosis treatment planning and
patient presentation.
• To simulate the jaw movement like opening and closing
• Arrangement of artificial teeth for complete and removable
partial denture
Limitations
• Metal, plastic articulators show errors in tooling,
(manufacturer).
• It does not exactly simulate the infraorder and functional
movements of mandible
• Errors in jaw relation procedure are reproduced as errors in the
denture occlusion
• Articulators do not have any provision to indicate or correct
these errors
Advantages
•  Properly mounted casts allow the operator to better visualize
the patients occlusion, especially from lingual view
• Patient cooperation is not a factor when using an articulator.
once appropriate interocclusal records are obtained from the
patient.
• Reduces the chair time, patient appointment time.
• Inter occlusal records can be obtained and complete denture
occlusion can be refined outside the mouth on an articulator.
Types of Articulators
• Simple hinge articulators
• Fixed or mean value condylar path articulators
• Semi-adjustable condylar path articulators
• Fully-adjustable condylar path articulators
Simple Hinge Articulator
• It allows only opening and closing movement
Fixed or mean value condylar path
articulators
• Opening and closing
• Protrusive movement at a fixed horizontal condylar path angle.
Semi-adjustable condylar path articulators

• Opening and closing

• Protrusive movement to an angle recorded from the patient
• Lateral movement
Fully-adjustable condylar path articulators

• They differ from the semiadjustable articulators in that the

lateral condylar path inclinations are adjusted according to
records taken from the patient
Thank You