Avaliação digital de contactos oclusais

Abstract

Objective: To assess the ability of students of the Masters in Dentistry to identify occlusal, static and dynamic contacts, with articulating paper of different thicknesses, using digital occlusal records as a reference. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional observational study was carried out, aimed at students in the 4th and 5th years of the Master’s in Dental Medicine at the Faculty of Dental Medicine of the Catholic University of Portugal. Each participant was asked to identify the main occlusal contacts in a position of maximum intercuspation and the teeth guiding the excursive movements (protrusion and laterality), in a standard patient, using 40 and 200 μm articulating paper (BK 17® and BK 02®, Bausch, Germany). These were recorded in a specific form and compared with the occlusal contacts obtained digitally with the OccluSense® device (Bausch, Germany). Data analysis was performed using IBM's SPSS® software with a significance level of 0.05. Results: The sample included 30 students from each academic year. There was no statistically significant relationship between gender and the identification of occlusal contacts regardless of the thickness of the articulating paper used (p≥0.05). Most participants correctly identified 3 of the 5 expected teeth in a position of maximum intercuspation (40%) with a 40μm articulating paper. With the 200μm, the predominant correct identification was 2 of the 5 expected teeth (48.3%). The differences found between these two types of articulating paper have statistical significance in the analysis of the maximum intercuspation position (p=0.001). Regarding excursive movements, there is a greater ability to identify correct teeth with the 200μm articulating paper compared to the 40μm one. Conclusions: The ability of students to identify static and dynamic occlusal contacts is influenced by the thickness of the articulating paper and their digital evaluation is a tool that should be introduced in undergraduate education as a way of making the more objective and didactic occlusal analysis.

Date of Award	13 Jul 2022
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	André Correia (Supervisor) & Patrícia Fonseca (Co-Supervisor)