A STUDY EVALUATING THE POSITION OF THE OCCLUSAL PLANE RELATIVE TO PAROTID PAPILLA IN KASHMIRI POPULATION

Introduction: It is challenging for prosthodontist to reorient and relocate the lost occlusal plane in edentate patients. Several intraoral landmarks that help in re-orienting and relocating the lost occlusal plane. Aims and objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the position of occlusal plane relative to parotid papilla in dentate subjects. Materials and methods: A total of 100 patients with 50 males and 50 females were examined to measure the distance of mesiobuccal cusp tip maxillary 2nd molar to inferior border of parotid papilla with UNC-15 periodontal probe in maximum intercuspal position. Results: The mean distance of all parotid papillae above the plane of occlusion was 3.7 mm, while for the right papilla, it was 3.2 mm, and for the left papilla it was 3.6 mm. F-test [ANOVA] showed the difference in measurements between right and left papillae to be significant at the p-value of 0.05 and p-value of 0.01 levels. Summary and conclusion: The parotid papilla can be used for the assessing and confirming the position of the occlusal plane while rehabilitating a completely edentate patient.