With the heavy push for digital dentistry and all things virtual, I have been asked to address the question “Are Articulators Still the Gold Standard in Dentistry”? First of all, digital manufacturing hasn’t reached every corner of the universe….yet. Not all labs or dental offices are ready nor equipped with digital know-how. With each new … Continued
I have been asked over the years; Do I need to have a Fully Adjustable Articulator?
The short answer is no, unless. . .
When customers want to start re-using their Slidematic Facebow after many years, parts may be missing or the articulators may need to be considered.
With each case, your goal is to deliver a case that is beautiful, requires minimal adjustments, and has immediate patient acceptance. It is important to include a face-bow registration to ensure you are replicating the movements of the mandible as it relates to the patient.
Part 1 covered the basic description of semi-adjustable articulators. In Part 2, we’ll define the settings they offer to bring the instrument as close as possible to recreating the movements in the mouth.
There has been a continuous decline in the teaching of the importance of using a full size semi-adjustable articulator in dental education. This article covers how it replicates the movements of the oral cavity.
Sometimes a customer will call with a part number wanting to order that given part to fix a piece of equipment or replace a missing part. Sometimes upon cross-referencing and finding the item number (the number needed to sell the part) it is discovered none exists, or in the articulator and facebow realm this is usually annotated by an *. If this is the case then a factory repair is required.
Thinking of heat sterilizing your articulators? The maximum temperature/time Whip Mix, Hanau and Denar aluminum parts will tolerate is 300°F/5 minutes.
In the real world of dentistry, there are grand old instruments used everyday that offer nowhere near the original function. Then there are the instruments that, in general, are left on the bookshelf or in the cabinet, and trotted out now and then, for the occasional “big” case.
When it comes to mounting cases on Full Frame Articulators, we always hope that there is good patient information with the impression. It should include a good Facebow registration and bite registration. However, the fact of the matter is that most of the time none of that information is available.