Editorial
Virtual articulators and virtual facebow
transfers: Digital prosthodontics!!!
The terminal hinge axis (THA) is the axis around which the
mandible rotates when the mandible is in centric relation.
The purpose of facebow is to record the patients THA and
transfer it to the articulator so that it coincides with the arc of
closure/hinge axis of the articulator. When the THA coincides
with the hinge axis of the articulator, it is presumed that the
restorations will be free of interferences and there will be
stability in the stomatognathic system.
Virtual interocclusal records are used to orient the maxillary
and mandibular casts in horizontal jaw relation.
With the advances in technology and with the assimilation of
this technology in dentistry, it is indeed amazing to visualize
the virtual facebow transfers and virtual articulators.
Shilpa Shetty
With the advent of digital technology in prosthodontics, it is
interesting to note how technology can be integrated toward
planning and treatment and hopefully they become affordable
to the dentists so that the process of treatments become less
time-consuming and more efficient.
Professor and Head, Department of Prosthodontics and
Implantology, V. S. Dental College & Hospital,
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Virtual reality is a computer-based technology linked with the
future of the dentistry-dental practice. Virtual reality leads us
to navigate and view a world of three dimensions in real time
with 6 degrees of freedom.
Using a virtual procedure, the maxillary digital cast is transferred
to a virtual articulator using reverse engineering devices. The
following devices necessary to carry out this protocol are an
intraoral scanner, a digital camera, and a specific software.
Results prove the viability of integrating different tools and
software and of completely integrating this procedure into a
dental digital work flow.[1]
It provides a quantifiable, repeatable, and reliable method of
transferring the location of the maxillary dental arch from the
patient directly to a virtual articulator and allows dentist and
the dental lab technician to work in a fully digital environment
without having to mount a stone cast on a mechanical
articulator.
The virtual articulator is one such application in prosthetic
restorative dentistry based on virtual reality that will
significantly reduce the limitation of the mechanical articulator
and by simulation of real patient data, allows analysis of
digitized casts with regard to static and dynamic occlusion as
well as jaw relation.[2]
Address for correspondence:
Dr. Shilpa Shetty,
Professor and Head, Department of Prosthodontics and Implantology,
V. S. Dental College & Hospital, Bengaluru ‑ 560 004, Karnataka, India.
E‑mail: editor.ipsjournal@gmail.com
REFERENCES
1.
2.
Solaberrieta E, Garmendia A, Minguez R, Brizuela A, Pradies G. Virtual
facebow technique. J Prosthet Dent 2015;114:751-5.
Pavankumar, Ravi. Virtual articulators. J Clin Diagn Res; March 2014.
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DOI:
10.4103/0972-4052.171825
How to cite this article: Shetty S. Virtual articulators and virtual facebow
transfers: Digital prosthodontics!!!. J Indian Prosthodont Soc 2015;15:291.
© 2015 The Journal of Indian Prosthodontic Society | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow
291