Australasian Dentist Issue 92

CATEGORY 72 AUSTRALASIAN DENTIST LINICAL embrasures usually of 13/14, 16/17, 23/24 and 26/27 to act as retentive and resistive lugs to stabilize the splint during parafunction (Figs. 4 and 5). Measuring 100 splints to create a standard for a ‘Fully Protective Occlusal Splint’ A hundred predominantly dentate TMD patients were randomly selected, starting in 2002, to measure their maxillary splints at the fitting appointment. This was performed to develop a standard for referring to the parameters that constitute a ‘Fully Protective Occlusal Splint’. These dentate patients required the presence of molars, in the first molar regions, and lower anterior teeth for splint measurements. A fully protective occlusal splint with full maxillary coverage and hard acrylic resin was fabricated for all patients and had the following design parameters (Figs. 1 to 5 in Part 1 and Table 1 and Figs. 5 to 12 in Part 2). Measurement of splint parameters The following six splint parameters were measured, namely: splint thickness, length of lateral path and length of protrusive path with corresponding overjets, and disclusion and illustrated with means and standard deviations (Table 1 in Part 2). The thickness of the splints was measured with an Iwanson calliper from the inside of the mesiobuccal and distobuccal cusp indentations of the upper first molars to the occlusal table of the splint. This was recorded in tenths of a millimetre (Fig.5). The lower buccal cusps occluded with the centric platforms of the splint. The calliper engaged each indentation and the corresponding centric platform adjacent to the nearest centric stop. Occasionally, part of the side of the splint was drilled away to fit an arm of the calliper to gain access to the centric platform for measurement. Acknowledgements My gratitude is extended to ceramists Paul Buchanan and Simon Donaldson, dental technician Peter Stefan and denture prosthetist Peter Anastasia for constructing these fully protective occlusal splints. I am grateful to Carl Warner, professional photographer, for all his audio-visual contributions in this paper. u Michael Darveniza MDSc PhD (Qld) FRACDS Correspondence: mdarvo@hotmail.com Fig. 5 Lateral occlusion illustrates a protective vertico-lateral mandibular vector with 5 mm disclusion (solid white line), and a 5 mm thick splint measured from the buccal cusps (4 white dots) and averaged. Lateral path was 11-12 mm long and note the resultant anterior mandibular vector from 43 on the splint in this final path. Fig. 4 ‘Fully Protective Occlusal Splint’ in protrusion with acrylic hooks 13/14 and 23/24 but hooks 16/17 and 26/27 not in view. The concave shapes (3 mm deep) of the anterior splint edge in the lateral incisor regions prevent latero-protrusive contact and parafunction. Protecting Patients, Equipment and theEnvironment Formore info, pricing or to order contact Marie P | 0407837267 E | mariedurham@bio-protect.com.au W | www.bio-protect.com.au COMPARE OURPRICES ANDSAVE All our devices and barriers are included on the Register of Therapeutic Goods in Australia. EPI oxo-biodegradable plastic disposables. Degradable plastic barriers & other plastic disposables OXO-BIODEGRADABLE