Occlusal Status, Caries, and Mastication

¹ College of Dentistry, State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa^*

Highly reliable results were obtained in recording caries experience over a short period of time following the establishment of the judgment criteria in a pilot study. When young adults with excellent occlusions were compared with those having full-cusp malocclusions, it was found that those with malocclusions had typically experienced more caries activity. When adjustments were made for the effect of Class II dental restorations, the difference appeared to be confined to the smooth surfaces. Within a subsample of 20 cases selected because of extremely irregular proximal contacts, caries activity was significantly less on the proximal surfaces of the upper posterior teeth with irregular contacts than where the contacts of adjacent teeth had a satisfactory relationship to each other. Only in the lower anterior area did the teeth with irregular contacts show a tendency toward more caries. Individuals with full-cusp Class I and Class II malocclusions were found to pulverize peanuts less well than those with excellent occlusions. Because cusp-to-cusp interdigitations were not studied and because of the wide variability between individuals, generalization from the small but significant difference is limited.