Advanced Occlusal Splint Therapy - Hands-on - 5th of Feb 2027 - Copenhagen

Advanced Occlusal Splint Therapy

Occlusal splints have long been the mainstay in the treatment of a variety of disorders including TMD, facial pain, tooth wear, bruxism and clenching. Success in occlusal splint therapy relies heavily on the ability of the dentist to understand and implement specific anatomical, neurophysiological and occlusal concepts into the design and adjustment of the splint.

The fully developed occlusal splint may also serve as a key diagnostic tool for assessing and treating malocclusion, underdeveloped jaw structure and airway problems. This is a full day of lecture and hands-on with a maximum of 20 participants.

In this course you will learn to:

• Understand the indications for occlusal splint therapy

• Understand the occlusal, neurophysiological and structural connections that make occlusal splints essential tools in TMD treatment, preventive dentistry and oral rehabilitation

• Develop an occlusal splint occlusion that normalises the patient's head posture and allows them to bite comfortably in their normal range of jaw and head postures

Theory

Mechanoreception - each tooth contact represents a stream of sensory information, and thick articulating paper can create misleading information. Occlusal interferences create competing sensory information that the CNS must process, resulting in slower excursions and destructive occlusion. Steep, protective anterior guidance is ideal and more effective than group function when posture and passive muscle tone are incorporated into the splint adjustment process.

Fascia, tensegrity and Human Resting Myofascial Tone (HRMT) - the importance of fascia, tensegrity and HRMT in self-centering the TMJs and AOJs into CR at a normalised head posture, how occlusal interferences generate active muscle tone that displaces the jaws and teeth and causes traumatic occlusion, and how effective steep anterior guidance prevents it.

AOJ-TMJ interaction - how head posture changes the position of the mandibular condyle in the glenoid fossa and thereby changes the occlusion, how to adjust an occlusal splint to the patient's functional range of jaw, head and neck postures, and why occlusal splints fail when centric relation tooth contacts are adjusted at a single head posture only.

Hands-on

• Anterior jig adjustment - how to equilibrate the jig so that mandibular tooth contact is perpendicular to the arc of closure of the labial incisal edge of a mandibular incisor in centric relation, creating the desired vertical dimension while observing the patient's normalised head posture, and using the jig to demonstrate facial and jaw muscle relaxation and build patient confidence in the splint adjustment process.

• Splint adjustment process - how to temporarily convert a new splint into an anterior jig to re-find the patient's normalised head posture, how to progressively build posterior occlusion into the splint without losing that posture, and why the splint must be adjusted at multiple head postures.

• Splint finalization process - eliminating non-working side and group function interferences on the splint, adding and adjusting anterior guide ramps in harmony with the patient's passive myofascial muscle tone, and thinning the labial and lingual flanges to stay within the neutral zone and prevent tongue, cheek and lip interferences from causing muscle tension.