Relationship between the Preferred Chewing Side and the Angulation of Anterior Tooth Guidance

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate a possible relationship between preferred chewing side (PCS) and the anterior guidance angle. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Forty dental nurses and technicians, aged 24-46 years, were each given a piece of chewing gum, which they chewed for about 3 min. At 7 regular intervals (every 15 s), they were interrupted by the principal investigator (P.L.) in order to observe on which side of their mouths they had the bolus of chewing gum. Moulds of their jaws were made and the position of the maxillary arch relative to temporomandibular joints was recorded with a facebow and transferred to a semi-adjustable articulator. After mounting the stone casts of each subject, a measure of the anterior guidance angle was taken with an adjustable incisal table. RESULTS: Of the 40 subjects, 14 (35%) presented a PCS. Among the 14 subjects who preferred a chewing side, there was a correlation between the PCS and a low angulation of teeth constituting the anterior guidance on that side, but this correlation was statistically nonsignificant. CONCLUSION: In this study, we found that unilateral chewing creates uneven wear on the anterior teeth and changed the anterior guidance angulation.