PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to decide the most appropriate point on tragus to be used as a reference point at time of marking ala tragus line while establishing occlusal plane. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The data was collected in two groups of subjects: 1) Dentulous 2) Edentulous group having sample size of 30 for each group with equal gender distribution (15 males, 15 females each). Downs analysis was used for base value. Lateral cephalographs were taken for all selected subjects. Three points were marked on tragus as Superior (S), Middle (M), and Inferior (I) and were joined with ala (A) of the nose to form ala-tragus lines. The angle formed by each line (SA plane, MA plane, IA plane) with Frankfort Horizontal (FH) plane was measured by using custom made device and modified protractor in all dentulous and edentulous subjects. Also, in dentulous subjects angle between Frankfort Horizontal plane and natural occlusal plane was measured. The measurements obtained were subjected to the following statistical tests; descriptive analysis, Student's unpaired t-test and Pearson's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The results demonstrated, the mean angle COO (cant of occlusal plane) as 9.76degrees, inferior point on tragus had given the mean angular value of IFH [Angle between IA plane (plane formed by joining inferior point-I on tragus and ala of nose- A) and FH plane) as 10.40degrees and 10.56degrees in dentulous and edentulous subjects respectively which was the closest value to the angle COO and was comparable with the values of angle COO value in Downs analysis. Angulations of ala-tragus line marked from inferior point with occlusal plane in dentulous subject had given the smallest value 2.46degrees which showed that this ala-tragus line was nearly parallel to occlusal plane. CONCLUSION: The inferior point marked on tragus is the most appropriate point for marking ala-tragus line.
Dental Occlusion ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Nose ; Sample Size

Purpose: To investigate the fracture resistance of monolithic CAD-CAM allceramic surveyed crowns with two different occlusal rest seat designs. Materials and Methods: Two maxillary first premolar were prepared for all-ceramic surveyed crowns with wide (2/3 rd of buccolingual width of an unprepared tooth) or narrow (1/3rd of buccolingual width of an unprepared tooth) disto-occlusal rest seat (ORS) designs. Eighty monolithic CAD-CAM all-ceramic surveyed crowns were prepared and divided into 4 groups - Group CR, Composite resin material as a control; Group LDS, Lithium disilicate based material; Group ZIPS, zirconiamaterial (IPS ZirCAD); and Group ZLHT, zirconia- material (CeramillZolidht+).Crowns were cemented on an epoxy resin die with adhesive resin cement. The fracture resistance of crowns was tested with the universal machine. Univariate regression analysis was used. Results: The mean ± standard deviation of maximum failure force values varied from 3476.10 ± 285.97 N for the narrow ORS subgroup of group ZIPS to 687.89 ± 167.63 N for the wide ORS subgroup of group CR. The mean ± standard deviation of maximum force was 1075 ± 77.0 N for group CR, 1309.3 ± 283.9 N for group LDS, 3476.1 ± 285.97 N for group ZIPS, and 2666.7 ± 228.21 N for group ZLHT, with narrow occlusal rest seat design. The results of the intergroup comparison showed significant differences in fracture strength with various material groups and occlusal rest seat designs (P<.001). Conclusion The zirconia-based all-ceramic surveyed crowns fractured at more than double the load of Lithium disilicate based crowns. The crowns with narrow base occlusal rest seat design had statistically significantly higher fracture resistance than surveyed crowns with wide occlusal rest seat design. The use of narrow occlusal rest seat design in CAD-CAM all ceramic surveyed crowns provides higher fracture resistance, and therefore narrow occlusal rest design can be used for providing esthetics with high strength