[Posterior guidance of the mandible as a neuromuscular assigned dimeric joint chain].

Abstract

Measurements of the mandible's movements which take its six degrees of freedom into account show that the conventional concept of a condylar hinge axis does not hold: on principle the structure of motion of the condylar hinge axis is not different from that of the incisal edge. The spaces of movement which are related to the condylar hinge axis and the incisal edge are factually enforced by a hinge axis of the neuromuscular system. This neuromuscular hinge axis cannot directly be related to anatomical structures although in the sagittal-vertical plane it reduces the number of the degrees of freedom from three to two.