Short-term changes in the mesiodistal position of teeth following removal of approximal contacts in the monkey Macaca fascicularis.

A capacitance transducer was used to measure the changes in the distance between pairs of adjacent teeth following the removal of tooth contact. Ten pairs of incisors and cheek teeth were studied over periods of several hours in three adult monkeys. Compared with minor changes in control tooth pairs, there was a sustained approximation of the capacitance plates for periods up to 2 h. Removal of tooth contacts with the teeth adjacent to the test pairs of teeth caused separation of the plates. It is proposed that removal of approximal tooth contact allows the transseptal fibre system to contract and produce approximation of the adjacent teeth.