Contact point marking with the OccluSense system-an in vitro study on reliability and validity

Area of Science:

• Dental materials science
• Occlusion analysis
• Diagnostic technology

Background:

• Occlusal indicators are used to visualize occlusal contacts.
• OccluSense is a hybrid system combining analogue contact marking and digital registration.
• The reliability and validity of OccluSense's contact marking require validation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the reliability and validity of OccluSense analogue contact staining.
• To compare OccluSense with Arti-Fol and the reference standard Gnatho-Film.
• To assess the accuracy of occlusal contact registration.

Main Methods:

• An in-vitro study simulated static occlusion using a custom apparatus.
• Occlusal contacts were stained 50 times with Gnatho-Film to establish a baseline.
• Contacts were then stained with Arti-Fol or OccluSense (including a modified evaluation) and compared to the Gnatho-Film baseline.

Main Results:

• OccluSense registered the same number of contacts in over 94% of cases across both evaluation methods.
• Neither OccluSense nor Arti-Fol consistently matched the exact number of contacts registered by Gnatho-Film.
• The modified evaluation strategy for OccluSense (OccluSense (mod.)) significantly improved validity results.

Conclusions:

• OccluSense, with a modified evaluation strategy, demonstrates reliability and validity comparable to the reference standard.
• Pre-coloring with Gnatho-Film and the modified evaluation may become a future standard for OccluSense analysis.
• This approach enhances the analysis of occlusal contacts.