[The reproducibility of the manual checkbite in the wearers of complete dentures]

Thirty-six new complete dentures were remounted by means of check bite records at the time of placement. The mandibular position was recorded three times in each patient by two clinicians using Bite Compound, a thermoplastic material, for the records. After individual transverse horizontal axis localization, the dentures were mounted in an articulator, and subsequently three-dimensional, electronic and computerized measurements were made with a special measuring instrument. In intraindividual comparison the reproducibility of the check bite records resulted in a mean value of 0.37 +/- 0.33 mm, whereby maximum deviations of up to 1.8 mm were observed. Repeated insertion of the maxillary dentures into the hardened impressions of the thermoplastic compound led to an error of 0.04 +/- 0.06 mm. The results of the two clinicians differed only slightly.