Morphological, functional and aesthetic criteria of acceptable mature occlusion

At present, there are no generally accepted criteria that could easily be a pplied to the evaluation of occlusal acceptability in clinical examinations at population level. The present study analyses the opinions of Finnish or thodontists and general practitioners on the characteristics required for a cceptable occlusion in the full permanent dentition. A questionnaire was sent to all 37 health centres where at least one orthod ontist was employed, 31 regionally comparable health centres without an ort hodontist, 12 private orthodontists, and 13 orthodontists working at univer sity dental clinics. Seventy-four orthodontists returned the questionnaire giving a response rate of 80 per cent. They were asked to give their views on the importance of morphology, function, long-term stability, and dental appearance as elements of acceptable occlusion. They were also encouraged t o indicate other significant characteristics and requested to assess the re lative significance of these features. In general, the respondents expressed the need to assess morphological, fun ctional and aesthetic aspects of occlusion as a whole. Good function, rathe r than morphology, was considered to be the most important feature of an ac ceptable occlusion, with a relative significance of 40 per cent (range 20-9 0 per cent). According to the respondents, the acceptability of occlusion i s determined not only by morphological features, but also by the functional status and long-term stability, as well as by the patient's opinion of the dental appearance.