With the advent of modern dentistry, it became increasingly necessary to define principles of order. Bonwill (1833–1899) had already postulated that occlusion should not be viewed statically and called for the dynamic function to be included, speaking of articulation instead of occlusion.

His invention of the ‘Bonwill articulator’ shows how far ahead of his time he was. As dentistry evolved and principles of order were outlined, the amount of different dental terminology grew, and is indeed still growing. Türkheim’s (1889–1955) intention to develop precise terminology in the sciences and apply it consistently was taken up half a century later by Hromatka, Jung and Kobes and subsequently summarised in the following statement: “A scientific discussion on a limited topic requires a uniform nomenclature.