SURVEYOR

Presented by Sadokpam Merina

B.D.S IV year
CONTENT
 Definition
 Types
 Parts of surveyor
 Uses of surveyor
 Survey lines
 Classification of survey lines
 DEFINITION
 The dental surveyor is a paralleling
instrument used in construction of a
prosthesis to locate and delineate the
contours and relative positions of abutment
teeth and associated structures.
 TYPES
 Ney surveyor: Horizontal arm is fixed.

 Jelenko (Wills) surveyor: Horizontal arm can

swivel.

 Williams surveyor: Horizontal arm is split and

jointed.
PARTS OF SURVEYOR
 Surveying platform: It is a metal base parallel to the
floor onto which a cast holder and vertical arm are
attached.

 Surveying table: This consist of a base and cast holder.

The base sites on the platform and cast holder is
attached to it. The holder is attached to the base with a
ball and socket joint that permits the cast to be oriented
in various horizontal planes
 so that the axial surfaces of the teeth and soft tissue
areas of the cast can be analysed in relation to the
vertical plane.

 Vertical arm: This is attached to the platform and

supports the horizontal arm.

 Horizontal arm: This extends at right angles to the

vertical arm and the surveying arm is attached to it .
The Ney, Jelenko and Williams surveyors differ in
this aspect as mentioned.
 Surveying arm: It drops vertically from the free end
of the horizontal arm . It can be moved vertically up
and down. The Mandrel, which holds the surveying
tools, is attached to its lower end. This arm is spring
loaded in Jelenko surveyor, while it is passive in the
Ney surveyor.
 Surveying tools: These are held by the mandrel at
tached to surveying arm. The tools are analysing rod,
carbon marker, undercut gauges and wax trimmer.
USES OF SURVEYOR
 Surveying the diagnostic and primary casts.

 Tripoding the cast.

 Transferring the tripod marks to another cast

 Surveying the master cast.

 Contouring crowns and cast restorations

 Placing internal attachments and rests

 Surveying the master cast.

 Surveying ceramic veneers before final glazing.

SURVEY LINES
 A survey line can also be define as “A line
produced on a cast of a tooth by a surveyor or scriber
marking the greatest height of contour in relation to
the chosen path of insertion of a planned restoration.

 The survey line marks the height of contour of the

tooth. The height of contour is defined as “A line
encircling a tooth of contour is define as
circumference at a selected position”
CLASSIFICATION OF SURVEY LINES
 High survey line:- High survey line passes from the
occlusal third in the near zone to the occlusal third in
the far zone When a high survey line is present, the
undercut will be deep and hence a wrought wire clasp
which is more flexible should be used. It is commonly
found in inclined teeth and in teeth with a larger
occlusal diameter compared to its diameter at the
cemento-enamel junction.
 Medium survey line:- It passes from the occlusal
third in the near zone to the middle third in the far
zone. Either Aker's or Reach clasp is used for teeth
with a medium survey line.

 Low survey line:- This survey line is closer to the

cervical third of the tooth in both near and far zone.

 Diagonal survey line:- This survey line runs from

the occlusal third of the near zone to the cervical third
of the far zone, Here, a reverse circlet clasp is used
 Set Up for Surveying:- Setup for surveying includes
mounting me primary cast on a cast holder, locking it
in position with "zero" degree tilt.

 Mounting the cast:- The primary cast should be

mounted on the surveying table. The cast can be fixed
tightly to the clamps on the surveying table. The cast
should be mounted such that the occlusal surfaces of
the remaining teeth are parallel to the base.
 Positioning the surveying arm:- After mounting the
cast, the horizontal arm is positioned in the surveyor.
The horizontal arm should be vertically adjusted such
that the surveying arm can contact atleast three
different spaced out points on the cast. Once the
proper position of the horizontal arm is determined, it
is locked to the vertical arm with the help of a
thumbscrew.
 Analyzing the cast:-
 The analysing rod is the first surveying tool that

should be used during any survey procedure. It

should be attached to mandrel of the surveying arm.

 The cast is rotated against the analysing rod to

analyse the presence of undercuts (favourable and
unfavourable). At this stage, the operator will develop
a mental picture about a design that would best suit
the clinical condition.
 Favourable undercuts should be present on the
abutment teeth to place the retentive components of a
clasp. Unfavourable undercuts (soft tissue, bony
undercuts) should be eliminated.

 Soft tissue undercuts revealed during analyzing

should be removed. The removal of soft tissue
undercuts is done during preprosthetic mouth
preparation.
 If there is a deep unilateral soft tissue undercut, the
cast can be tilted so that the prosthesis can be placed
using a different path of insertion without
interference.
 Surveying the primary cast includes:-
1. Analyzing the cast.
2. Surveying the teeth.
3. Surveying the soft tissue contours on the cast.
 Surveying the teeth:- The teeth are surveyed for the
following reasons:

A. To determine the height of contour.

B. To determine the depth of the undercut.

C. To determine the location of undesirable undercuts

D. To determine the parallelism of the abutments

E. To determine the path of insertion of the denture.

 Determining the height of contour:- Teeth are
surveyed to determine their height of contour. The
height of contour is marked using the flat surface of a
carbon marker attached to the mandrel of the
surveying arm. This forms the survey line. If there is
no height or contour and there is no undercut to place
the flexible part of the clasp, in such cases a small
depression (undercut) can be created to engage the
flexible part of the clasp.
 Determining the depth of the undercut:- This is done
using undercut gauges. One should remember that the
depth of the undercut is not always measured at the
level of the gingival crevice, instead it is measured as
a level where the operator plans to place the retentive
terminal of the retentive arm. A more flexible
material should be used to engage a deeper undercut.
Hence, the alloy for the partial denture is chosen
based on this measurement during this procedure.
 Determining the location of undesirable undercuts:-
Undesirable undercuts should be blocked out (filled)
to avoid interference. Block out is done using wax or
block out material. Usually block out is done in the
master cast before duplicating it to form the
refractory cast. Undesirable undercuts should be
filled till the height of contour for that path of
insertion. The excess blockout material is trimmed
flush to the height of contour using a surveying wax
knife.
 Determining the parallelism of the abutment teeth:-
The parallelism of the abutment teeth to one another
should also be determined. The path of insertion of a
RPD is usually parallel to the long axis of the
abutment teeth. Parallelism is essential for easy
insertion and removal of the prosthesis.
 Determining the path of insertion of the denture:-
While surveying to check for the parallelism of the
abutment teeth, the cast is tilted till the long axis of
the abutment tooth is parallel to the Vertical axis. Is
tilt gives the angle of path of insertion of the denture.
Tilting can be done in anterior, posterior, right or left
directions.
 Surveying the Soft Tissue Contour:- Soft tissues to
be covered by the prosthesis or the soft tissues that
support the prosthesis should be surveyed for
unfavourable undercuts. If any form of surgery is
needed to eliminate these undercuts, they are added to
the treatment plan.

 Tripoding the Primary Cast: The angle of path of

insertion is maintained by maintaining the tilt
determined for the primary cast.
 To achieve this degree of the master cast, tripoding
the primary cast is done. Tripoding is a very simple
procedure, wherein three different widely spaced out
points of a single plane are marked on the cast. These
tripod points are reference points and should not be
altered till the end of treatment.
Procedure:-
 Tripoding is done after surveying the primary cast.
 The primary cast is mounted according to the
determined tilt on the surveying table.
 A carbon marker trimmed to an angle of 45 is fixed to
the mandrel of the surveying arm.
 The height of the horizontal arm is adjusted such that
the carbon marker touches the tissue lingual to the
teeth on the cast.
 The horizontal arm is locked in that position.
 The surveying arm is moved freely. Since the
horizontal arm is locked to the vertical arm the tip of
the carbon market will lie in a single plane
irrespective of the position to which the surveying
arm is moved.
 As the surveying arm is moved, two additional points
in the cast that come in contact with the carbon
marker, are marked. Since carbon marker is in the
same horizontal plane all the three points marked
using it will also lie in the same plane.
 Transferring the Tripod Marks:- This procedure is done to
orient the master cast using the same angulation of the
primary cast. After tripoding the primary cast, three
additional reference points are marked on the cast using the
same procedure described to mark the first three tripod
marks. The commonly used additional reference points are:

1. Distal marginal ridge of the first premolar.

2. Incisal edge of lateral incisor.
3. Lingual cusp tip of the first premolar on the opposite site
 After marking the reference points, the primary cast
is removed and the master cast is placed on the
surveying table.

 The master cast is adjusted in the surveying table

such that the carbon marker in the surveying arm
contacts the additional reference points in the same
manner as it did with the primary cast
 Surveying the Master Cast:- The master cast is
fabricated after prosthetic mouth preparation. It is
surveyed to check whether the desired results have
been obtained in mouth preparation. All the
objectives for sureveying the diagnostic cast hold
good here too. Additionally, the following factors are
checked during survey of the master cast:
 Parallelism of the guiding plane:- It is measured
using the paralleling tools like surveyor blade and
diagnostic stylus. It is checked by tilting the cast
laterally and antero-posteriorly.

 Depth of undercuts and retention:- It is measured

using undercut gauges mounted onto the surveying
arm.

 Height of contour:- It is the widest circumference and

is marked using a carbon marker.
CONCLUSION
Surveying is the procedure of locating, delineating
and appraising the contour and position of the teeth
and associated structures before any removable or
fixed partial denture is designed. Thus surveyor is a
diagnostic tool which should be used by every
practicing prosthodontist in order to establish a
treatment plan that will be biomechanically sound
while fulfilling functional and esthetic requirements.
REFERENCES
 TextBook Of Prosthodontics

 Nallaswamy (Edition 2)

 V Rangarajan TV Padmanabhan(Edition 2)

 Google
Thank You