MODERN ARTICULATORS

Articulator is a mechanical device that represents the temporomandibular joints and the jaw members to which maxillary and mandibular casts may be attached to simulate some or all the mandibular movements.Many devices that are called articulators do not satisfy this definition. Some of these devices make no attempt to represent the temporo-mandibular joints (face bow transfer) or their paths of motion (eccentric registration). Some instruments allow eccentric motion determined by inadequate registrations .Some utilize average or equivalent pathways. Some attempt to reproduce the eccentric pathways of the patient from three dimensional registrations. Some other articulators record even the fourth dimension, i.e., the timing of Bennett movement.