Recording the Centric Relation in an Edentulous Patient Using the Existing Complete Denture Mounted with Gothic Arch Tracer

Abstract

An 80-year-old man sought treatment at our hospital. He was dissatisfied with his old complete denture due to its poor stability and retention. The old complete denture had been used for about 20 years. The prolonged use of an unsuitable complete denture led the patient to be accustomed to unilateral mastication (UM). Due to the patient long-term habitual mandibular deviation, using the physiological technique to get the centric relation (CR) achieved an incorrect horizontal maxillomandibular record. This clinical report presents a technique using the existing complete denture mounted with a Gothic arch tracer to determine the CR. This technique is an inexpensive, simple, and reliable method that allows fabricating the final impression and obtaining the maxillomandibular relationship record (MMRR) in one step.

Centric relation—A biological perspective of a technical concept

“…Indeed, alongside claims to abandon the dogmatic use of CR, 35 there have also been proposals to modify, from a technical usefulness viewpoint, the definition of centric relation 79–81 . Thus, while it seems reasonable to suggest that there is a general agreement on the fact that CR is still viewed too dogmatically, criticism in the form of nihilism should be abandoned in favour of constructive reasoning and critical thinking to find the best possible strategy to move towards evidence‐based dentistry.…”

“…69,77,78 Indeed, alongside claims to abandon the dogmatic use of CR, 35 there have also been proposals to modify, from a technical usefulness viewpoint, the definition of centric relation. [79][80][81] Thus, while it seems reasonable to suggest that there is a general agreement on the fact that CR is still viewed too dogmatically, criticism in the form of nihilism should be abandoned in favour of constructive reasoning and critical thinking to find the best possible strategy to move towards evidence-based dentistry. Based on that, the biological reasons for abandoning the current CR concept on one hand have been previously explained, and the technical reasons for maintaining a modified CR concept for technical reasons on the other hand will be reviewed below.…”