Occlusal tooth contacts in natural normal adult dentition in centric occlusion studied by photocclusion technique

The inter- and intraexaminer reproducibility in the interpretation of the registrations of the photocclusion technique as well as the number of occlusal contacts and their intensity in natural normal dentition in centric occlusion were studied in 20 adults. No significant differences were found regarding the inter- and intraexaminer interpretations for both number and intensity of occlusal contacts. A mean number of 23.8 contacts per individual, an almost symmetric and balanced distribution of the contacts between left and right sides of the dentition, and an absence of any significant differences between female and male subjects characterized the normal natural dentition.