I use anatomic appliances, sometimes known as Tanner Style appliances, very commonly in my practice. They are the appliance design that allows me to test alterations to the patient’s functional occlusion prior to replicating it on their teeth or in a reconstruction. This appliance design gives me the ability to vary inter-incisal angle, guidance, protrusive and intercuspal contacts and observe the impact on the patient’s muscles and joints. In addition the patient has the opportunity to experience what the proposed occlusion will feel like and add their preferences into the design. The final design of the occlusal scheme can be transferred into a wax-up or a final equilibration.
When I was first studying how to fabricate and adjust anatomic appliances Dr. Mark Kleive was a key influence in my learning. As part of helping other dentists become comfortable with anatomic appliances Mark created a series of instructional videos. He has given me permission to share these. In this first segment he walks us through setting up the articulator and preparing the models. Look for the remaining segments over the next few weeks.
Thank you for posting this.