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CAD/CAM - international magazine of digital dentistry

_Abstract The Virtual Facebow has been developed as an open-source tablet app that provides an alternative to the conventional facebow for the mounting of casts toanarticulator. TheVirtualFacebowimplementsseveraldesignfea- tures to prevent and minimize errors, provide accurate mountingandreinforcetheanatomicalconsiderations associated with articulators. The Virtual Facebow is an effective, efficient and accessible digital companion to dentalimplantdiagnosesandtreatmentplanning. _Introduction Prior to the delivery of dental treatment, carefully established diagnosis and treatment planning is re- quired. This is particularly important with dental im- planttherapy.1 To assist the process, the mounting of a patient’s di- agnosticcastsremainsanimportantstep,asitallowsthe assessmentofcriticalfactorssuchasocclusion,implant position and forces direction.2 It also allows exploration intoprostheticoptions,2suchasangledabutments(Fig.1). Tosupportpropermountingofpatientcasts,aface- bow, which aligns the maxilla to relative facial planes, can be utilized. Errors in the utilization of the facebow, or complete lack thereof, create critical errors in diag- noses and treatment planning that become magnified inthedesignanddeliveryofimplantprosthetics. TheVirtualFacebowhasbeendevelopedasadigital substitute to the analogue facebow to address the shortcomings. _Background Analogfacebow The facebow (Fig. 2) facilitates the mounting of the maxillary cast to the articulator. The Whip Mix Quick Mount facebow (Whip Mix, Louisville, KY) is composed of a caliper-type instrument that anchors into the ear canalsandisbalancedbythebridgeofthenose. Abiteforkisutilized,embeddedwithpolyvinylsolix- ane, to register the position of the maxillary teeth. The bite fork is then transferred to an articulator, through theuseofatransferjig.Themaxillarycastispositioned andmountedtotheupperportionofthearticulator. I CE article _ Virtual Facebow Fig. 1_Implant treatment planning. Fig. 2_Analog facebow. 06 I CAD/CAM 2_2014 The Virtual Facebow Adigital companion to implantology Author_Dr Les Kalman, USA Fig. 1 Fig. 2 This article qualifies for CE credit.To take the CE quiz,log on to www.dtstudyclub.com. Click on‘CE articles’ and search for this edition of the magazine.If you are not registered with the site, you will be asked to do so before taking the quiz. _ce credit CAD/CAM CAD0214_06-10_Kalman 13.05.14 11:13 Seite 1