Question

"Patient: Female, 38-years-old.

Chief complaint: ""I was chewing and part of my tooth broke.""
Background/or patient history: Your patient is a regular attender, maintains good oral hygiene, and has a low caries risk. There are no relevant medical factors. She has a large mesio-occlusal (MO) composite restoration in tooth #3. This was placed by a previous dentist at least eight-years ago.
Current Findings: Apart from a sharp edge which is uncomfortable on her cheek, the patient has no symptoms. On examination, you find the mesiobuccal cuspof tooth #3 has fractured off supragingival. The tooth is vital and there is no evidence of caries. The occlusion is class I. After a discussion, you and your patient elect to restore tooth #3 today with a direct composite resin restoration, on the understanding that she will return in the coming months to restore the tooth definitively with a more durable ceramic restoration.

The fractured cusp you are planning to restore occludes with:
a. The buccal groove of the mandibular first molar
b. The buccal embrasure between the mandibular first molar and mandibular second premolar
c. The central fossa of the mandibular first molar
d. The distobuccal groove on the mandibular first molar"

Answer 1

The fractured cusp occludes with the central fossa of the mandibular first molar.

Step-by-step explanation:

The fractured cusp you are planning to restore occludes with: c. The central fossa of the mandibular first molar.

In dentistry, occlusion refers to how the upper and lower teeth come together when biting or chewing. The mandibular first molar has multiple cusps, or pointed edges, that interlock with the opposing teeth. In this case, the fractured cusp of tooth #3 occludes, or comes into contact, with the central fossa of the mandibular first molar.