Associations between anterior temporal, masseter, and orbicularis oris muscle activity and craniofacial morphology in children

Abstract

In a sample of children with Class I (n = 18), Class II, Division 1 (n = 25) and Class II, Division 2 (n = 12) malocclusions, the relationship between jaw muscle activity and specific craniofacial variables has been quantified. Muscle data were obtained from the temporal, masseter, and orbicularis oris muscles at rest, in maximum intercuspation, and during clenching, jaw opening, and swallowing. Contrasts in means of the three skeletal groups identified differences in both the craniofacial and muscle variables. Orbicularis oris muscle amplitude was greater at rest and in maximum intercuspation in Class II, Division 2 subjects. Anterior temporal amplitude during clenching was significantly lower in Class II, Division 1 subjects. A principal component analysis reduced the data base, and three canonical correlations were identified at the 0.05 level of significance. Significant canonical correlations could not be found between the cephalometric data and clench, swallow, or jaw-opening tasks, which suggests no dependency between these factors. Two canonical correlations were found for the rest position data. A linear combination of masseter and orbicularis oris activity and incisor separation was correlated (r 1 = 0.758) with a linear combination of mandibular unit length, upper and lower central incisor angulation, and SNOP. The second rest canonical correlation (r 2 = 0.733) involved the anterior temporal muscle and a series of sixteen cephalometric variables. For the maximum intercuspation data, orbicularis oris amplitude was correlated with a linear combination of upper incisor angulation and SNOP variables (r 1 = 0.727). The multivariate statistical analysis extracted a clinically significant association between orbicularis oris muscle activity and incisor position.