Influence of clenching level on intercuspal contact area in various regions of the dental arch

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the clenching level and the intercuspal contact area in different regions of the dental arch. Twenty-five healthy subjects with natural normal dentitions and good occlusal support performed clenching tasks in the intercuspal position at four different levels (10, 30, 70 and 100% levels of maximum voluntary contraction) through EMG visual feedback from bilateral masseter and anterior temporal muscles. Simultaneously, the occlusal contacts were recorded with a silicone occlusal contact checking material (Black Silicone, GC Dental industrial Corp., Tokyo, Japan). The occlusal records were analysed by an image analyser. Every area of the thickness less than 50 mu m was determined to be an occlusal contact area. The occlusal contact areas on the anterior teeth (incisors and canines), the premolars (first and second premolars) and the molars (first and second molars) were calculated separately. The posterior occlusal contact area increased with an increase in the clenching levels but that of the anterior did not. The results of this study indicate that the increase in clenching forces affects the anterior and posterior occlusal contact areas differently.