A new method to capture the jaw movement

In traditional dentistry, orthodontics and maxillo-facial surgery, articulators are mainly used to simulate the dental occlusion. Dental implants and syndromes such as functional occlusion require instrumentation for the planning previous to the surgery. There are various mechanical articulators on the market. However, most of them only simulate the rotation of the jaw about an axis running through the virtual condyles. However, the real movement includes translation and rotation and differs from one patient to another. Surgeons and dentists require a comprehensive simulation system as a support for their work. This article describes the work carried out to develop a method to capture mandibular movement. Taking into consideration the market proposals and in comparison with them, this system is intended to be as cheap and simple as possible.