In dentistry, a mutually protected occlusion is an
occlusal scheme in which the anterior teeth protect the posterior teeth, and vice versa.
The anterior teeth protect the posterior teeth by providing for a plane of guidance during excursions, thus allowing the
cusps of the posterior teeth to disclude rather than strike one another during lateral or protrusive movements from centric relation. In other words, the posterior teeth have much larger crowns and more cusps than the anterior teeth. Because posterior crowns are wider and possess cuspal projections in various configurations, the cusps of the
maxillary teeth and those of the
mandibular
In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla).
The jawbone i ...
teeth have an opportunity to bang into each other during chewing, speech or simply meeting together when one bites down. To prevent this from happening, the anterior teeth of each arch will, ideally, be situated so as to come into contact ''before'' the cusps of the posterior teeth do, thus preventing wear on the posterior teeth. This requires less force because the anterior teeth are further from the joint (analogous to stopping a door further from its hinge).
The posterior teeth protect the anterior teeth by providing a stable
vertical dimension of occlusion
Vertical dimension of occlusion, or VDO, also known as occlusal vertical dimension (OVD), is a term used in dentistry to indicate the superior-inferior relationship of the maxilla and the human mandible, mandible when the teeth are occlusion (den ...
. While anterior teeth may retain their natural position even after loss of posterior teeth, the
masticatory forces will eventually cause the single-rooted anterior to splay, thus leading to a collapsed bite.
References
* Davis Henderson, Victor L. Steffel. McCRACKEN's Removable partial prosthodontics, 4th Edition, 1973.
{{Prosthodontology
Dentistry
Restorative dentistry