1. A method for determining the occlusal alignment of jaw dental models using a physical replicate of the occlusal bite registration impression, comprising: a) creating a digital 3D surface contour model of the bite registration impression; b) fabricating a physical replicate bite model of the bite registration impression using the data from the digital 3D surface contour model of the bite registration impression; c) correlating features on the upper and lower jaw dental models with features on the replicate bite model; and d) aligning the occlusal contact of the upper jaw and lower jaw dental models by nesting the upper jaw dental model occlusal features into the corresponding features in the replicate bite model features and nesting the lower jaw dental model occlusal features into its corresponding features in the replicate bite model.