Let /S/ be your guide

New guidelines for establishing the vertical dimension of occlusion have been reviewed. They are based upon the fact that the body of the mandible assumes an easily recordable, repetitive horizontal and vertical position when the patient is at the /S/ position during speech. This controlled method of developing vertical dimension correlates the posterior speaking space with the placement of the upper and lower anterior teeth when set to a phonetic standard. This permits the development of a dependable vertical dimension of occlusion for most patients and also serves as a guide for the more difficult to treat Class II and tongue-thrusting patients. A method of obtaining a protrusive registration is also presented; it coordinates the angle of the eminences with the actual incisal guide angle of the patient. In all techniques there should be a final try-in after the setup of the teeth is complete. The guidelines presented in this article for controlling speech and "verticentric" can also be used to verify and/or alter that which has been established by any technique.