Articulator

An articulator is a mechanical hinged device used in dentistry to which plaster casts of the maxillary (upper) and mandibular (lower) jaw are fixed, reproducing some or all the movements of the mandible in relation to the maxilla.

This means less occlusal adjustments before and after fitting dental appliances and fewer chronic conflicts between the teeth and the jaw joints.

Articulators are used mainly by dental technicians in fabrication of prostheses and information regarding bite can be communicated from the prescribing dentist via a facebow alone.

Individual patient's casts may be mounted and dismounted from a single articulator using a variety of disposable baseplates, either mechanical or magnetic.

Modern hinge articulators are made of a disposable plastic material which may be incorporated into or over the casts and are subject to bending.

It wasn't until 1910 that dentistry had its first articulator breakthrough due to the work of scientists like W. E. Walker, Alfred Gysi and George Snow.