Interocclusal Relations and Records in Prosthodontics

Dentistry revolves around occlusion, No occlusion, No dentistry. Occlusion is the meeting ground of all phases and specialties of dentistry. The confusion and misunderstanding of occlusion and maxillomandibular relation is appalling. This sad situation is due to the inability to determine, reproduce and maintain accurately the normal relationship of teeth and jaws, and to the lack of understanding of the true functional movement of stomatognathic system1. Nearly all concepts of occlusion have embraced the practice of mandibular centricity. Recording the centric relation position is of utmost importance in the prosthetic reconstruction of edentulous and partially edentulous patients. Historically, this positions have been recorded using many methods and materials. Interocclusal records are the means whereby interarch relationships are transferred from the mouth to an articulator. Complicated and sophisticated articulators do not produce accurate interarch relationships. Accurate interocclusal records do.