I actually check the centric occlusion before the teeth touch. I hold the mandibular recording base on the buccal and ask the patient to close. (You always have to be alert that the patient is not going into protrusive. You know the relationship of the anterior teeth so this is easy to watch for.) The patient is told to stop just before you see contact. Look at the interdental space from side to side and see if the space is the same. If the space is closer on one side then you know that the closer side will contact first. Then I ask the patient to close the last millimeter to see where the prematurity occurs. This is repeated to see if your first observation was correct.

16. Checking centric. Note even space side to side.

If necessary another centric record is taken and mounted on the articulator. The occlusion is corrected and tried in again.

This procedure of recording and checking the centric is actually done three times. Once with the occlusion rims; at the try-in; and finally after the denture is processed with the clinical remount. (The clinical remount is just another centric record.)

If you have to move a number of teeth, make sure you check the occlusion on the articulator. If you move the teeth without checking the occlusion, then you will change vertical and centric.

©1999 by Julius Rosen, D.D.S.