Probably one of the most misunderstood areas of dentistry accounts for most treatment failures. Whether a single crown that will not remain seated, a denture that continues to “fall out”, or porcelain that always cracks, these conditions often have the same reason for their annoying existence. While many will disagree with this assertion, the truth remains that these conditions and many more like them do exist and create numerous problems for dentists. A few that should be mentioned are the destruction of patient trust, loss of dentist confidence in their own abilities, and misplaced blame that soon becomes a distraction and then grows into a blockade to discovering the true reason for these unwanted conditions. Countless hours have been consumed in search of the answer, yet there are some dentists who have very predictable treatment outcomes and experience very few of these previously mentioned conditions or problems.

You might be thinking that if that is true, “why have I never heard of this?”. The truth is, you probably have heard about this, but you never received clinical training to fully understand its many clinical applications, or, even worse, you were given inaccurate information, and quite possibly, you never received instruction.

As the title has given you clues where this article was going, the subject of jaw relation records is greatly mistaught as to its necessity and clinical significance. Specifically, the subject of centric relation must be fully understood and taken advantage of to ensure the greatest chance for treatment success and longevity. As previously mentioned, some dentists have already discovered the benefits of performing dentistry with centric relation in mind. Myself, I was slow to understand and take the necessary steps to fully employ centric relation into every aspect of the dentistry I performed. I hope you will seek as I did. It will change your life!