Jaw movement during the speech in children with allergic rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis can cause changes in stomatognathic functions, which may alter the mandibular dynamics. Electrognathography is used in the recording of jaw movements, making it valid for analysis of movements in speech.

To characterize the amplitude and velocity of jaw movements during speech in children with and without allergic rhinitis.

The sample consisted of 32 children aged 7-12 years, treated at a university hospital, divided into two groups: one with rhinitis and the other without rhinitis. To capture the jaw movements during speech, we used an electrognathography with the aid of a list of phonetically balanced figures. For the analysis of data, we used, in addition to descriptive statistics, nonparametric tests, Spearman correlation coefficient and the Mann-Whitney test, with a significant value of p=0.05.

No significant difference was observed in jaw movements between groups, with values of p equals to 0.175, 0.650, and 0.462 for amplitude and jaw opening and closing velocity, respectively. However, a strong correlation was observed between the variables velocity and amplitude of mouth opening, being slightly higher in the group of children with allergic rhinitis.

The amplitude and velocity of jaw movements are found to be similar in children with and without allergic rhinitis, and a correlation exits between these variables. In addition, they were more heterogeneous in the group without allergic rhinitis.