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Abstract

Objectives: To assess the concepts of complete denture occlusion among dental fraternity.Study Design And Setting: Cross-sectional study conducted at various dental hospitals and institutes of Karachi, for aperiod of six months, from 1st June’2019 to 30th November’2019Methodology: Total 849 dental practitioners who are currently practising were included. A well-structured and validatedquestionnaire was used for data collection. SPSS version 25 was used.Results: Bilateral balanced occlusion was an ideal occlusion by majority subjects i.e, 530(62.4%) in patients with wellformedridges, followed by 464(54.7%) candidates with skeletal class 1, total 376(44.3%) chose it with uncontrolled diabetesmellitus, 365(43%) in single complete denture cases, 339(39.9%) with increased inter-arch space, 298(35.1%) withparafunction habits, 296(34.9%) in patients with history of neuromuscular disorder and 271(31.9%) where a completedenture opposes a removable partial denture. Furthermore, Lingualized occlusion was preferred by 341(40.25%) participantsfor patients with skeletal class 3. Total 316(37.2%) candidates chose it for patients with displaceable supporting tissuefollowed by 264(31.1%) who chose it for skeletal 2 and 260(30.6%) for cases of highly resorbed ridges. Lastly, 311(36.6%)chose canine guided occlusion with highly resorbed ridges accompanied by high aesthetic demand A significant differencebetween education level and knowledge of occlusal schemes was also found. Chi-square (73.87), df 6, p-value =0.000.Conclusion: Dental practitioners lack adequate knowledge of occlusal schemes in terms of prescription in complete denturepatients. A significant difference between the education level and knowledge of occlusal schemes was found. Therefore,awareness of various occlusal schemes should be increased at undergraduate level.