How to Take a Bite

Taking bite records is fundamental to laboratory communication. When you're prepping a case, it's helpful to keep the basic principles in mind to ensure success in bite registration for restorative dentistry. These principles aren't complicated but are mandatory for achieving a predictable result.

Use firm, non-compressible materials that are stable under varying temperatures during transport to the lab.Materials that compress or permanently deform with temperature variations encountered during shipment are not good options.

Create an anteroposterior spread of at least three teeth. It is essential to keep the lab technician's ability to mount the case accurately in mind when creating your bite record. The A-P spread must not allow any rocking when the casts are mounted.

Make sure the bite record will allow the teeth to sit completely into the record. Correctly trimming your record to 1.0 mm of cuspal indentations is key so that the teeth completely and passively seats into the record. Extra material extruded onto the buccal and lingual surfaces, embrasures as well as distal extensions can cause inaccuracies in the mounting.

Make your bite record at the same vertical dimension that the final restoration will be fabricated. Whether it is CR or MIP, vertical differences can create errors in fabrication.

Martin Mendelson, D.D.S., C.P.C., E.L.I.-M.P., is a member of Spear Resident Faculty.