Canine discluder mechanics

The amount of lateral force exerted on the periodontium of a discluder tooth can be controlled in at least two ways: (1) by changing the location of the force application point relative to a tooth's center of rotation (Fig. 10) and (2) by changing the steepness of the discluder path relative to the lateral path. Since it is desirable to minimize the force exerted between discluders, the acceleration and normal frictional force between them must be kept as small as possible. This means choosing a discluder path with the most gentle slope possible departing from the lateral path. Before this slope angle can be chosen, however, there must be a base line from which to measure its steepness. The "base line" is the lateral path. Therefore, the lateral path must be located first. The discluder slant and relief slant are each chosen to be successively steeper in angulation relative to the lateral path. In summary, if the angular difference between the discluder path and the lateral path is kept at a minimum, the force between the discluders due to acceleration will be at a minimum.