Dental tray and articulator

I claim an improvement in an articulation device used with a pair of trays in the dental art for forming a dental model in which said articulation device includes first and second leg members having respective first and second ends, with said first ends being securely attached to respective ends of each of said pair of trays, and wherein means are provided for removably and pivotally attaching said second ends to each other such that said first and second leg members can be detached from each other when desired and can further be pivotally rotated relative to each other about a common axis that lies in a plane that is substantially perpendicular to longitudinal axes of said pair of trays to which said first and second leg members are attached, wherein said improvement in said articulation device comprises:

• said first leg member has a substantially rigid, substantially rectangular shape;
• and
• said second leg member has the shape of a flat plate having sufficient thickness to be substantially rigid but which also allows limited torsional movement about its longitudinal length as well as limited flexing about its longitudinal length;
• whereby
• said improvement in said articulation device allows normal occlusive movement and lateral side to side movement of dental models formed on said trays as well as a protrusive movement of said dental models to replicate condylar movement during protrusive and lateral protrusive movement of a human jaw.