Technical note: Occlusal fingerprint analysis: Quantification of tooth wear pattern

Abstract

Information about food ingestion and mastication behavior during the lifespan of an individual is encoded in the dental occlusal wear pattern. To decode this information, we describe a new method called occlusal fingerprint analysis (OFA). Structural parameters of wear facets on the occlusal surface of teeth are quantified from digitized casts for the interpretation of occlusal aspects. The OFA provides an individual three-dimensional dental occlusal compass that indicates the major pathways of interaction between antagonists, revealing information about development, spatial position, and enlargement of wear facets. Humans develop a very similar overall pattern of crown contacts, although specific characteristics of wear facets reflect an individual's occlusal relationships and masticatory behavior. We hypothesize that the wear pattern is a unique character and therefore valuable for individual identification. Furthermore we suggest that OFA, when further developed, may be useful for identification of behavioral, biological, and chemical factors affecting crown morphology.

The physiological linkage between molar inclination and dental macrowear pattern

“…M1 wear areas were manually outlined on each digital 3D surface models and were labeled according to the wear area terminology and numbering system created by Kullmer et al, (2009). Areas that were affected by wear were then grouped into their respective masticatory cycle phases, that is, phase I buccal areas (1, 1.1, 2, 2.1, 3, 4), phase II (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 10.1), and phase I lingual areas (5, 6, 7, 8) (Kay & Hiiemae, 1974).…”

An Experimental Approach to Evaluate the Correspondence Between Wear Facet Position and Occlusal Movements

“…After adjusting experience-based functional data in the articulator, the mandibular dental row was manually occluded against the maxillary to generate attrition on antagonistic crowns. The movements, constrained through the condyle box configurations, allowed all possible directions of relief guided jaw movements out of maximum intercuspation as described by the dental occlusal compass (Douglass and DeVreugd, 1997; Schulz and Winzen, 2004;Schulz, 2008;Kullmer et al, 2009). This included combinations of protrusion, laterotrusion, mediotrusion, retrusion and ISS.…”

“…His ''Angle Class I'' defines a normal occlusal relationship which produces the common pattern of contact positions characteristic of the bunodont dryopithecine tooth morphology (Maier and Schneck, 1981;Ulhaas et al, 2007;Kullmer et al, 2009). A stereotypic motion of the lower jaw was described as a general feature of the primate masticatory cycle Kay, 1972, 1973;Kay and Hiiemae, 1974;Kay, 1977;Maier, 1977Maier, , 1978Maier, , 1984, from which a maximum of 13 complementary facet pairs develop on the molar occlusal surface (Maier and Schneck, 1981).…”

“…Accordingly, even though several factors (i.e., food properties, environmental, and behavioral factors) influence the shape, size, and gross rate of facet wear (Janis, 1990;Lussi, 2008;Fiorenza et al, 2011a), their topographic position on the occlusal surface mainly depends on crown morphology, the relationship of antagonistic cusps and basins, and jaw movements (Fiorenza et al, 2010(Fiorenza et al, , 2011b. Based on this, Kullmer et al (2009) proposed that a detailed analysis of a wear facets spatial position (occlusal fingerprint analysis, OFA) could precisely predict individual occlusal jaw movements. Then, the OFA can be used as guidelines in crown surface and dental arcade reconstructions.…”

“…Then, the OFA can be used as guidelines in crown surface and dental arcade reconstructions. The movements responsible for creating each facet in the wear pattern can be reconstructed by applying the concept of the dental occlusal compass (Schulz, 2008;Kullmer et al, 2009). The occlusal compass describes all possible relief guided movements; protrusion, laterotrusion, mediotrusion, retrusion, immediate side shift (ISS), and their combinations; lateroprotrusion, lateroretrusion, and medioprotrusion, starting from a position of maximum intercuspation.…”