[OCCLUSION MONTH] Vertical Dimension – Don’t Be Scared! – PDP197

Treatment Planning Symposium 16th November Hybrid event: https://www.protrusive.co.uk/rx Are you still afraid of raising the Vertical Dimension? You cannot break free from the shackles of single tooth Dentistry if you don’t get comfortable with vertical dimensions changes in Restorative Dentistry. https://youtu.be/Nb-LTyzRKuU Watch PDP197 on Youtube In this episode, Dr. Jaz Gulati and Dr. Mahmoud Ibrahim  simplify the complex topic of increasing vertical dimension.  What is a safe limit of increasing the vertical dimension? They cover the essentials of joint health, muscle stability, and the importance of centric relation (does it actually matter?) Protrusive Dental Pearl: Use Duralay copings for guide planes to ensure stable dentures with a single path of insertion. While eyeballing the prep can be challenging, he suggests requesting acrylic copings from the lab for precise preparation. He explains that technicians survey models to identify undercuts and determine the path of insertion, and instead of manual prepping, he advises using lab-created reduction copings and acrylic jigs to simplify and accurately guide the preparation process.  Need to Read it? Check out the Full Episode Transcript below! Highlights of this episode:  02:05 Protrusive Dental Pearl  Acyrlic Copings for Guide Planes 03:57 Dr. Mahmoud Ibrahim’s Introduction 06:05 Personal Experiences with Vertical Dimension 08:45 Challenges and Techniques in Vertical Dimension 14:17 Clinical Considerations (Restorative Dentistry) and Research 21:15 How to Assess OVD Loss? 24:35 Factors to Consider in Increasing the Vertical Dimension 28:41 Treatment Planning: Orthodontics vs. Restorative Management 32:21 Assessing Cases for Vertical Dimension 34:39 Joint Position and Vertical Dimension 39:47 Occlusal Appliances Prior to Increasing Vertical Dimension  45:26 Joint Relationship 50:49 Reproducibility and Stability in Occlusal Planning 53:00 Summary and Final Thoughts on Vertical Dimension This episode is eligible for 1 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance. AGD code: 180 Occlusion  (Occlusal therapy) This episode meets GDC Outcomes A and C. Dentists will be able to: 1. Explore key clinical considerations and current research in restorative dentistry related to vertical dimension, enhancing your ability to make informed decisions. 2. Understand the relationship between joint position and vertical dimension, and how to assess and manage this relationship effectively. 3. Recall the guidelines for assessing the vertical dimension and the safe limit for this in dentate patients. If you liked this, you will also like Functionally Generated Path Technique – Conforming to Funky Occlusions – PDP168 Click below for full episode transcript: Teaser: But it can also help you stage treatments, right? It's a great technique to learn because it allows you then to stage those more comprehensive cases. So one of the most useful things about opening vertical dimension is gaining space for your material without having to prep teeth that they're usually already quite worn. Now that is a huge benefit for anterior teeth, but also can come into play on back teeth. Jaz's Introduction:I used to be petrified of opening the bite, i.e any kind of treatment that would increase the patient's vertical dimension would be way out of my comfort zone and it really made me worried like, is the patient going to adapt? Are they going to get joint pain? Am I perhaps increasing the vertical dimension too much? And so for the first 18 months of my career, I was focusing on conformative dentistry. Not having to change the vertical dimension, just accepting the patient's bite for what it is and working with it. You know, a filling here or a crown there. And back then it mostly was small and large composites. I was still finding my feet, I wasn't confident with indirect dentistry,