Nowadays, the progress in polymer materials and injection molding processing has enabled a drastic expansion of plastic gear applications. They are used not only for lightly loaded motion transmissions, but also in moderately loaded power drives in automotive, agriculture, medical, robotics, and many other industries.

Although gear geometry and the design of asymmetric tooth gears are well known and published, they are not covered by modern national or international gear design and rating standards. This limits their broad implementation for various gear applications, despite substantial performance advantages in comparison to symmetric tooth gears for mostly unidirectional drives. In some industries — like aerospace, that are accustomed to using gears with non-standard tooth shapes — the rating of these gears is established by comprehensive testing. However, such testing programs are not affordable for many other gear drive applications that could also benefit from asymmetric tooth gears.

Gears with a diametral pitch 20 and greater, or a module 1.25 millimeters and lower, are called fine-pitch or low-module gears. The design of these gears has its own specifics.