Dental occlusion and body posture: no detectable correlation.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Dental Science
• Kinesiology

Background:

• Body posture and balance are influenced by various sensory inputs.
• The role of dental occlusion in maintaining postural stability is a subject of ongoing research.
• Posturography is a valuable tool for assessing balance control.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the potential correlation between dental occlusion and body posture.
• To evaluate the impact of different visual conditions and mandibular positions on postural control.
• To determine if dental occlusion influences posturographic parameters.

Main Methods:

• Twenty-six healthy subjects participated in the study.
• Posturography was employed to record spatial and dynamic balance parameters.
• Experimental conditions included variations in visual input (eyes open/closed) and dental occlusion (mandibular rest/intercuspidation positions).

Main Results:

• Statistically significant differences were observed in dynamic posturographic parameters between eyes open and eyes closed conditions.
• No significant differences in dynamic posturographic parameters were found between mandibular rest position and dental intercuspidation.
• Spatial posturographic parameters (ACOPD) did not show statistically significant differences among the tested conditions.

Conclusions:

• The study found no detectable correlation between dental occlusion and body posture at the posturography level.
• Visual input significantly influences postural control, whereas dental occlusion does not appear to have a measurable effect on balance.
• Further research may be needed to explore potential indirect or subtle influences of dental occlusion on posture.