Analysis of Occlusiography in Elderly Patients with Various Types of Dentition Defects

INTRODUCTION: Dentistry is one of the most actively developing medical sciences. New concepts and approaches to dental care, comprehensive diagnosis of dental diseases are annually presented at scientific congresses and conferences of various levels. However, a number of traditional methods and approaches to comprehensive diagnosis of the dentoalveolar system remain relevant to this day. The presented article is devoted to the assessment of the relevance and practical application of the occlusiography technique in elderly patients with dentition defects of various extensions. AIM: Determination of occlusiography in elderly patients with various types of dentition defects, and its analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is based on the determination and analysis of occlusion-graphy in elderly patients. A total of 150 patients were included in the study, who were divided into three groups. Group 1 — patients with terminal defects (unilateral and bilateral). Group 2 — patients with included defects (unilateral and bilateral). Group 3 — patients with combined defects (terminal and included). There were 50 patients in each group. Computer occlusiography and traditional occlusiography were performed. A proprietary method was used – a program of photographic morphometric analysis of control-diagnostic models. RESULTS: In group 1, high dependence of the results of the proprietary method of digital analysis of occlusiogram on the quality of the photo image was revealed. Due to the absence of a chewing group of teeth, the area of occlusal contact of incisors and canines was considered insignificant. The obtained results revealed a high chewing load on the frontal group of teeth with the absence of chewing teeth. Most of the occlusal contacts led to a complete loss of the wax layer on the occlusiogram. In the 2nd study group, with the presence of teeth limiting the defect, the tightness of occlusal contacts permitted to obtain a true occlusiogram. As a result, 75% of respondents had a small number of supracontacts, 93% of the subjects had supracontacts within the teeth limiting the defect of the dentition. With this, the preserved teeth helped obtain a high-quality imprint of the occlusal relief on an analog wax plate, which permitted to obtain the maximum similarity of the results of the proprietary method and of T-scan computer system (90%). In group 3, the wax template was additionally reinforced with occlusive wax in the area of the terminal defect of the dentition. In 85% of patients, supracontacts were located in the area of dentition defects, significant disorders of the position of the teeth limiting the terminal defect were noted. The reason for this may be vertical loads during chewing. In this group, the average deviation of the results of analog occlusiography from those of the digital one was 87.5%. CONCLUSIONS: It is recommended that occlusiography be used at the stage of diagnosis in all dental specialties.