A computer-implemented procedure for the estimation of occlusion in the design of dental prostheses, which comprises: determining, using one or more computer processors, based on a relative initial placement of a first 3D model of the teeth and a second 3D model of the teeth, a first point of contact between the first 3D model of the teeth and the second 3D model of the teeth, where the first 3D model of the teeth and the second 3D model of the teeth represent occluded teeth； iteratively perform a motion simulation of the relative movement between the first 3D model of the teeth and the second 3D model of the teeth, said movement simulation embodiment comprises: determining, using a first set of contact points between the first 3D model of the teeth and the second 3D model of the teeth, a second set of contact points between the first 3D model of the teeth and the second 3D model of the teeth, said first set of contact points initially comprises the first contact point ； determine a set of candidate contact points for use in a subsequent iteration of motion simulation based on the second set of contact points； and determine if the set of candidate contact points meets one or more detention criteria and, if the set of candidate contact points does not meet one or more predetermined detention criteria, continue iteratively performing the motion simulation of the relative movement between the first 3D model of the teeth and the second 3D model of the teeth to estimate the occlusion between the first 3D model of the teeth and the second 3D model of the teeth； and when a specific set of candidate contact points meets one or more of the predetermined detention criteria, determine a new relative placement of the first 3D model of the teeth and the second 3D model of the teeth based, at least in part, on specific set of candidate contact points and, after determining the new relative placement of the first 3D model of the teeth and the second 3D model of the teeth, finish t
