Ask Dr. Christensen: How to determine vertical dimension of occlusion when a patient has no teeth

Dr. Gordon Christensen shares his years in clinical practice with his fellow dentists on many everyday issues that dentists face. This week he addresses determining vertical dimension of occlusion when a patient has no teeth.

He says that one thing dentists probably are not doing is making stabilized occlusion rims (bite blocks). Dr. Christensen demonstrates placing these impressions in a patient’s mouth. Doctors are then instructed to ask these patients to say a couple of words that will determine whether or not the impressions are cut correctly. Or doctors can strategically place their hands on the patient’s head and have them bite down to determine the proper vertical dimension.

Dr. Christensen’s video on making predictable dentures will explain this and more to help with this procedure.

To watch this video on an iOS device, click here.

To watch more videos from Dr. Gordon Christensen, click here.