Absence of association between a preferred chewing side and its area of functional occlusal contact in the human dentition.

Preference for a particular chewing side may be influenced by several factors, one of which could be the functional contact area on each side of the dentition. In this study, interocclusal wax records were made for each of the 30 subjects. A digital image of the transilluminated wax record was analysed to group 'grey' values into categories of wax thickness. The total area for tight and intermediate tooth contacts was calculated for both the left- and right-hand sides of each subject. The chewing-side preference was recorded. No correlation was found between the area of occlusal contact on one side and the preference for chewing on that side. Occlusal contact area does not appear to be a determinant of chewing-side preference.