Bite Computer

The Tek Scan bite computer enables dentistry to view bites in relationship to time and intensity of force. It is like sitting on the tongue and conducting the orchestra in Walt Disney’s Fantasia. You have vertical towers popping up all around you in the exact sequence and intensity with which the teeth or the appliance collide.

The computer can now utilize this timing and intensity to balance the symphony of the bite. And when it is balanced perfectly, it is a symphony of simultaneous contact and guidance

systems that mesh the upper and lower teeth to the precise position where the teeth, the muscles and joints, all supplied by the trigeminal nerve, work in total harmony.

We call this the triplane comfort position (picture). It is the single point at which the saggital, frontal, and horizontal planes all meet in harmony, not deflected into a forced uncomfortable position in any way by the meshing of the teeth or the traumatized dislocations of the joints. It is not just any point on the saggital plane (right to left), but where the trigeminal nerve, muscles, and mandible (lower jaw) are all relaxed relative to the right to left position. Also we must find where the trigeminal nerve is comfortable on the frontal plane (front to back) and the horizontal plane (adequate vertical height).

A millimeter in the mouth is a mile, and often times, the thickness of a layer of paint causing a deflection or lack of support in any of these planes of direction can mean the difference between a lifetime of pain and a lifetime of comfort.

Using the bite computer and several different thicknesses and types of marking paper, we are able to refine bites down to a tolerance of 5/1000ths of a millimeter, the thickness of the silver metal foil shown in the picture. When that triplane comfort position has been precisely located via the lower orthopedic neuromuscular appliance, a bite analysis using plaster casts mounted to this exact position can be analyzed to determine what bite alterations, additional support, or guidance systems need to be added to the bite to provide the permanent cure or long-term solution to the pain.

This precise computer engineered orthopedic appliance should in no way be compared to a football mouth guard or huge upper “hockey puck splints” (flat plane block of plastic) dentists are currently putting in as TMJ treatments or bruxing appliances. They cause you to brux, grind and clench even more, and most likely, the average patient will not wear them 24/7 as required, if you truly want to eliminate the over stimulation of the trigeminal nerve that triggers the pain.

What makes our treatment work is the precision and attention to detail. As has been said many times before, “God is in the details”, and this statement is especially true when you are trying to balance 32 vertical towers, your teeth, and make all their incline planes and slopes mesh together perfectly. As Theresa, one of our patients, so simply put it, “It’s like it knows where to park, and it goes right in there”. The patient and the computer know when it’s correct, but more importantly, the patient’s loved ones know because they see the “rebirth” of someone they love.