Patients compared the mechanical efficiency of certain types of posterior teeth. Patients, allowed to choose the denture that was most comfortable and the most stable, and that performed the best, all selected the nonanatomic tooth form. Women selected the dentures with the flat occlusal posterior teeth and men preferred the posterior teeth with metal inserts. On the basis of this small sampling of patients treated with anatomic and nonanatomic posterior teeth, I suggest that favorable results would be obtained if nonanatomical teeth were used to construct dentures for all age groups. If, in addition to good function, we can provide an esthetically pleasing,nonanatomic type posterior tooth, we will have achieved our goal in the construction of fine dentures.