Effects of head position on intraoral pressures in Class I and Class II adults

Variations in resting lip and tongue pressures and their relationship to alterations in head posture were investigated in subjects with Class I and Class II dental and skeletal morphology. Intraoral pressures were measured by means of transducers mounted in plastic carriers, customized for each subject from dental casts. Transducers were placed in the carriers to measure posterior lingual, anterior lingual, and labial pressures along the mandibular dentition. Ten Class I subjects and eleven Class II subjects participated. Pressures were recorded in natural head position, with 20 degrees of head extension and 20 degrees of head flexion. The Friedman two-way analysis of variance using ranked data was used to compare transducer location and head posture within skeletal classes. Anterior pressures were found to differ from posterior pressures in both classes. In Class I subjects, posterior lingual pressures were consistently different from labial pressures in all head positions. In Class II subjects, posterior lingual pressures differed from labial pressures in flexion and natural head positions, and from anterior lingual pressures in flexion and natural head positions. No increase in labial pressures with head extension was found in either Class I or Class II samples. Since every subject showed pressure changes with changes in head position, the influence of posture should be considered in studies on facial morphology and dental equilibrium.