Mark II Instruction Manual - Whip Mix

fig. 26 fig. 27
The closer the functioning tooth incline
is to the condylar path of movement the
more the tooth incline simulates that
condylar path of movement. The interrelating
tooth inclines on the orbiting
side in figure 26A have steep inclines to
complement the path of movement of
the orbiting condyle.
Figure 26B illustrates a left lateral movement.
Due to the fact that the left rotating
condyle is moving straight outward
the left maxillary buccal cusps must be
kept short to allow the left mandibular
buccal cusps to escape. It is this influence
of the rotating and orbiting condylar
paths on occlusal anatomy that
establishes the Curve of Wilson. The
more posteriorly we progress in the
dental arches the mandibular teeth take
on a greater lingual inclination and the
maxillary teeth take on a greater buccal
inclination to harmonize occlusal
anatomy to condylar paths of movement
(fig. 27). The condyle tracks a path
in its fossa just as a buccal cusp of a
lower molar tracks a path in its fossa on
the occlusal surface of an upper molar.
For all practical purposes in the use of
articulators to establish dental articulation,
the temporo-mandibular joint can
just be thought of as another tooth, the
fourth molar – another anatomic control
of jaw movement (figs. 26C and 27).
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