The anterior acrylic resin platform and centric relation verification: A clinical report.

essential in comprehensive diagnosis, treatment planning, and predictable restorative procedures. Dawson’s bimanual manipulation, to locate centric relation and to confirm this position of the condyles in the glenoid fossae with load testing, has been detailed.1-4 A light touch is initially used to guide the mandible into centric relation, followed by increasing increments of force to perform the load test. This approach is designed to avoid protective muscle bracing initiated by the stretch-reflex mechanism that could alter the anterior-posterior or medial-lateral position of the mandible; or confuse load testing pain in the lateral pterygoid muscle with intraarticular temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain. Correct bimanual manipulation technique to record centric relation is a skill that requires hands-on learning. Improper finger position, heavy initial force in arcing the mandible, patients overassisting while closing in variable paths, or muscle hypertonicity can produce errors with this technique. The purpose of this article is to present a clinical case of recording centric relation with the bimanual manipulation technique. A modified anterior deprogrammer was used to visualize mandibular central incisor position before and during centric relation records, which allows these errors to be controlled. Interocclusal dimension and the accuracy of cast mounting on the articulator were also verified.