The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry Volume 7, Issue 4, July 1957, Pages 544-552

doi:10.1016/0022-3913(57)90062-8 | How to Cite or Link Using DOI Permissions & Reprints

Cited By in Scopus (6)

A cephalometric study of the clinical rest position of the mandible: Part II. The variability in the rate of bone loss following the removal of occlusal contacts

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Douglas Allen Atwood A.B., M.D., D.M.D.1, a

a

Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Veterans Administration Hospital Boston, Mass. USA

Received 2 October 1956. Available online 13 September 2006.

Abstract 1. Balance between antagonistic muscles can occur at an infinite variety of muscle lengths and tones within certain physiologic limits because of the complex, dynamic character of the neuromuscular system. 2. Certain pathologic states of muscle are recognized clinically: stretch-weakness, shortness, contracture, spasm, hyper-tenseness, fatigue. 3. The ability of a patient to regain the lost vertical dimension with dentures will depend to a large degree on: (a) the amount of lengthening and stretch-weakness of the opening muscles, (b) the amount of shortness and tightness of the closing muscles, (c) the duration and permanence of these changes, (d) the amount of superimposed hyper-tenseness, (e) the degree of coordination and the ability to learn.

4. Of 32 patients studied cephalometrically after the insertion of dentures, 28 showed measurable bone resorption over intervals varying from 5 to 46 months, each patient varying to a different degree. 5. If these 32 patients are divided arbitrarily into those given an adequate interocclusal clearance and those not given an adequate interocclusal clearance, some with rapid rates of resorption and some with little or no resorption will be found in each group. The rate of bone loss appears to be more characteristic of the individual than of the group. 6. Analysis of the data suggests that there are many factors influencing the rate of resorption of edentulous ridge, including anatomic, functional, metabolic, and prosthetic factors, and that dependence on a single factor in the establishment of the occlusal vertical dimension is unsafe. Read before the Academy of Denture Prosthetics, New York, N.Y., May 6, 1955.