Dental Occlusion and Body Posture: a Surface EMG Study

The influence between dental occlusion and body posture has been discussed in the past ten years by several authors with controversial conclusions. The objective of this study was to access, using surface electromyography (EMG), the rest activity of paired sternocleidomastoids, erectors spinae at L4 level, and soleus muscles in a group of 24 volunteer subjects (12 males, 12 females, aged 23-25 yrs) affected by sub-clinical dental malocclusions in different situations of dental occlusion. The subjects' occlusion was balanced (neuromuscularly) (registered on an acrylic wafer). Rest activity was assessed using the sEMG. The measurements were achieved on subjects while standing barefooted, before (Test 1), and 15 minutes after they wore the acrylic wafer (Test 2). The result was a significant reduction of the mean voltage for each muscle. Paired muscles were registered and the balancing rate between right and left muscles showed improvement for all the paired muscles (Wilcoxon test p < 0.05). No significant difference was noted in the relaxation and balancing rates between the muscles tested. The data confirmed a beneficial effect of balancing the occlusion with an acrylic wafer on the following paired postural muscles: sternocleidomostoid, erector spinae, and soleus.