Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
by Dr Sean Parsonage, Totally Smiles Dental Group, Ryde, NSW
Occlusense is an elaborate way of ensuring a patient’s bite is even. It uses a horseshoe-shaped sensor that fits into the whole mouth and digitally connects to an iPad or mobile device.
What’s good about it
This is an accurate way to determine the bite. A graphical image appears on an iPad or mobile device indicating which teeth touch first and with what pressure. It also records the teeth as they touch second, third, fourth, and so on until all the bite positions are recorded.
This is important when you’re doing large dental treatments with multiple teeth. Sometimes the patient can’t really explain how their teeth feel, but this gives an accurate indication.
I use Occlusense when undertaking full mouth rehabilitations or full mouth reconstructions with fillings, onlays or crowns. It’s particularly effective with full arch implant cases because the patient has little proprioception. They simply can’t feel which teeth are touching first.
The horseshoe-shaped unit that fits in the mouth is an elaborate piece of articulating paper with some digital sensors. Those sensors connect wirelessly with a mobile device and create the resultant image. It also leaves blue marks on the teeth which makes it easy to confirm the results. The horseshoe piece is also disposable.
What’s good about it
The initial outlay cost is a bit of a negative. And the disposable cost of the horseshoe-shaped sensor is another disadvantage. Despite that, it’s a very useful tool for doing large implant cases.
