Hubert Redelberger reveals how the Occlusense system can be used in various ways in everyday practice.
For a long time, clinicians use articulating papers in dentistry to check occlusion.
With the recently developed product Occlusense, Bausch promises ‘the future of occlusion control’.
What kind of device is this and what treatment is it for?
The Occlusense system contains a special kind of occlusion paper. This allows it to represent pressure conditions.
The flexible, thin and colour-coated electronic pressure sensor inserts into the battery-operated hand-held device. This sends the static and dynamic occlusal recordings data after checking the articulation of the respective patient, to the Occlusense iPad app.
The selective occlusal forces show up on the iPad via 3D column graphics and the relating percentage pressure distribution of the single occlusal segments in a 2D display.
Additionally, the red colour coated sensor marks the occlusal contacts on the patient’s teeth.
Case study and application
Nowadays, in modern innovative dentistry, the dentist has to face different sets of problems.
On the one hand, the range of materials used in prosthetics has changed.
Soft plastic occlusal surfaces in removable dentures contrast to ceramics and extremely hard zirconium oxides in fixed restorations.
On the other hand, today we have to deal more often with different abutment anchorages. Different periodontal conditions already show different kinds of resilience with the natural tooth. This reduces to a minimum on the abutment.
All of us know the problem of checking the occlusion when using different materials.
Even with occlusion foils that contain more wax, static contacts are not sufficiently visible. Especially with highly compressed surfaces such as zirconium oxide restorations.
Thus, secondary contacts often display in a more prominent colour and lead to misinterpretations.
The resiliencies in the temporomandibular joint (compression, distraction and lateral resiliencies) also obscure the image.
Visualising occlusal contacts
By using the innovative technology of Occlusense, however, it can be illustrated what kind of masticatory force is loaded on the single contact points. Users can read the fortitude of each contact from the graphic.
Occlusense visualises occlusal contacts irrespective of the marking on the prosthetic surfaces.
Users can detect premature contacts or missing contacts with very high precision. It is possible to correct the occlusal conditions and subsequently read the optimisation in diagrams visually.
The dynamic occlusion can be recorded as well and thus, for example, disturbing or excessive laterotrusion and mediotrusion contacts can be eliminated according to the respective occlusion concept.
Uses for Occlusense
Uses for Occlusense are various and manifold in everyday practice.
Primarily, the evaluation of the occlusal conditions of a new or older prosthetic restoration is a notable example.
As a matter of fact, the patient cannot evaluate correctly the functionality of a new denture. Very often the adjustment is too extensive. For example, a bridge that is unilaterally too low wearers may consider more comfortable than a balanced one.
Older dentures too can also lose their functional properties, unnoticed by the patient, due to gradual, varying abrasion behaviour and because of the patient’s high adaptability in the neuromuscular area. They therefore call denture usability into question.
Acquired false loading, eg dedentition, tilting or elongation of the antagonists and the resulting occlusal interferences, as well as teeth abrasion can visually be displayed for the patient and thus the importance of a gap closure can be explained.
I also see many possibilities in orthodontics to at least reduce later problems. I prefer to use Occlusense in CMD therapy, not only to detect occlusal interferences. But also to check the functionality of a splint, for example, at a later stage of treatment (therapy control and demonstration of changed occlusal patterns).
Sleeping postures
Furthermore, grinding surfaces, which we cannot detect easily during a normal dynamic function test, eg due to adverse habits, are visible.
I should mention sleeping posture here. Abdominal sleepers can control or activate occlusal surfaces in the non-axial area due to the torsion of the head and the lateral resilience of the mandible or rather the temporomandibular joint, which may lead to a clear attrition due to their prominence.
If this problem is known, it can be displayed by Occlusense by a respective manual simulation during the dynamic recording and show its real dominance.
Of course, Occlusense cannot show any acquired or structural problems in the craniomandibular system in subordinate position. Due to characteristics of the system this is not possible.
However, what really happens occlusally and functionally in the patient’s mouth displays precisely with Occlusense.
Conclusion
Nowadays, when dentists have to deal with highly complex material mixes and restorations of different resilience (eg tooth/implant) as well as functional problems, Occlusense shows its strength.
The improved check of the occlusal and functional situation provides patients and dentists with additional certainty, eg with more extensive restorative care, not to mention today’s obligatory documentation requirement.
And: the handling of the device is easy!
Chapeau!
Promises kept.
For me, Occlusense is one of the greatest innovations in dentistry recently.
For more information visit www.occlusense.com.
