Occlusal Waxing to the GNM Position

by Clayton A. Chan, D.D.S.

I enjoy occlusal waxing – it allows me to be creative. Its a time of contemplation and assessment. It helps me see the occlusal details necessary when I do my own wax ups for my TMD patient restorative cases. You learn a lot when you do it yourself.

I like creating the anatomical form back to the way it should…not flat occlusion.

Creating the cusp to fossa relationship I find super important…but one has to get the right bite first and get the mandible stabilized…so I strive to do just that for my cases….then I can accurately create the proper contacts precisely so I don’t have to grind the anatomy away. If the occlusal anatomy ends up getting flattened in would indicate to me that the bite is not right.

occlusal-wax-up-clayton-a-chan-d-d-s

It is nice when the occlusal plane (smile line) is correct and the patient smiles and feels that the bite is right. It is nothing like feeling GNM Optimized. It takes a lot of time, detailed effort, patience and dedication on both parties to get it right.