Construction of a novel digital method for quantitative analysis of occlusal contact and force

BACKGROUND: Occlusal analysis is essential in the dental clinical practice. However, the traditional occlusal analysis performed on the two-dimensional level can not directly correspond to the tooth surface with three-dimensional profile, therefore the clinical guidance value is limited. METHODS: By combining the 3D digital dental models and quantitative data from 2D occlusal contact analysis, this study constructed a novel digital occlusal analysis method. The validity and reliability of DP and SA were verified by comparing the results of occlusal analysis of 22 participants. ICC values for occlusal contact area (OCA) and occlusal contact number (OCN) were tested. RESULTS: Results confirmed the reliability of the two occlusal analysis methods with ICC values of 0.909 for SA(OCA), 0.906 for DP(OCA), 0.929 for SA(OCN) and 0.904 for DP(OCN). The Bland-Altman plot, paired t-test (t(OCN) = 0.691, P > 0.05) and Pearson correlation analysis results (R = 0.68, p < 0.001) verified the validity between SA and DP. Then a novel digital occlusal analysis method was constructed, which not only can locate the occlusion contact and provide the quantitative analysis, but also provide a comprehensive description of the resultant force of each tooth and the component forces on the x-, y- and z-axis. CONCLUSIONS: This new occlusal analysis method can obtain quantitative analysis of occlusal contact including contact area and force information simultaneously, which will provide new impetus and greater help for clinical dental treatment and scientific research.