Correlation between maximum bite force and craniofacial morphology of young adults in Indonesia

The present study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between maximum bite force and craniofacial morphology. Sixty-four Indonesian female dental students aged 19-27 years with normal occlusion served as the subjects. The Dental Prescale System was used to measure the maximum bite force using a pressure sensitive sheets while craniofacial morphology measurements were determined from conventional lateral radiograms. The antero-posterior and right-left position of the occlusal load centre (the OLC) were measured also. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between bite force and craniofacial morphology while correlation analysis was used to evaluate the antero-posterior position of the OLC related to craniofacial morphology. Fifty-five per cent of the bite force could be explained by variations in the posterior facial height, gonial angle, antero-posterior size of the maxilla, and posterior length of the cranial base. The result showed a larger bite force implies a greater posterior facial height, smaller gonial angle, larger maxilla and straighter posterior length of the cranial base. This study suggests that among Indonesians, maximum bite force could be explained by craniofacial morphology as found in Caucasians. In addition, we proposed a clinical standard of the OLC for the comprehensive evaluation of occlusion.