Corresponding Author

History

Received: September 2024
Available Online: January 2026

Abstract

Mandible is a mobile bone and the position of the condyle inside the articular fossa, determining occlusal relations, continues to be a master summit of discussion and confusion in Dentistry. Terms such as Centric Relation (CR), Centric Jaw Relation (CJR), Centric Occlusion (CO), Occlusion Habitual (OH), Maximum Intercuspal Habitual (MIH), Maximum Intercuspal Contacts (MIC) are unclear, mainly because many authors tried to explain these topics creating several definitions over a hundred years, adding more misunderstandings to the problem. Several descriptions which were given in the past for CR are of no agreements up to today. The purpose of this article is to review superannuated terminologies related to dental occlusion and revisit already existing stateof-the-art concepts and terms published by the same author in 2014 [1], to put an end to dentists misperceptions, elucidate gray teachings on this subject in dental schools and eliminate the confusion in dental students’ minds. Those above terms were reduced to only two from which the whole practice of Dentistry should be based upon. Extensive descriptions of the proposed new terms are presented for better understanding their applicability, two clinical case reports, revealing intrinsic conditions on patients with Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) disorder. Ultimately, it can be said that patients with malocclusion not always have associated TMJ disorders, but TMJ diseases always result in some type of clinical malocclusion. A patient suffering from TMJ internal disturbance most recurrently have a concomitant external disorder, as well.

Keywords

Centric Relation, Centric Occlusion, Maximum Intercuspal Habitual, Functional Relation, Functional Position, Functional Occlusion

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