The History of Articulators: A Critical History of Articulators Based on Geometric Theories of Mandibular Movement, Part IV

Needles, Wadsworth,and a Look at Some Who Followed
Edgar N. Starcke, DDS

AS WAS discussed in Part III of this series, John Needles was an early and enthusiastic proponent of the Monson “spherical” theory. In August 1921, Needles read a paper before the National Society of Denture Prosthetists in Milwaukee, the purpose of which was “to demonstrate the correctness of the theory that the teeth in normal occlusion lie upon the surface of a sphere as advocated by George S. Monson or more generally that the two sides lie upon the surface of concentric spheres.” But even by this time, Needles was beginning to question Monson’s theory in its purist form. “If this theory is true,” Needles said, “there is a transverse axis through the head of the condyles about which the opening and closing motion takes place.”1 Needles’ first articulator embodied this idea—that is, a universal joint (“balancer”) design with an incisal guidance mechanism.

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