Sagittal condylar guidance as determined by protrusion records and wear facets of teeth.

The maxillary and mandibular casts of 45 healthy and dentulous subjects, with conspicuous wear facets on canines and molars, were mounted on a semiadjustable articulator. The sagittal condylar guidance was determined by two methods: (1) using a protrusion wax interocclusal record and (2) by matching the wear facets of opposing canines and contralateral molars. There was a substantial bilateral symmetry of the right and left sagittal condylar guidance angles using both methods. There were, however, significant differences between the mean angles of the two methods, about 31 degrees (protrusion record) versus about 24 degrees (wear facets). This, in association with rather low coefficients of linear determination, suggested that the two methods of recording the sagittal condylar guidance angle were based on totally different phenomena.