Can different occlusal positions instantaneously impact spine and body posture? : A pilot study using rasterstereography for a three-dimensional evaluation.

PURPOSE

Orthodontists influence dental occlusion directly. To suggest any link between dental occlusion and body posture is highly contentious, as evidenced by the literature. Rasterstereography, an optical technique that enables three-dimensional (3D) body measurements to be collected, has not yet been used to impartially examine whether different occlusal positions could instantaneously alter spine and body posture. We therefore set out to use this technique to nonsubjectively evaluate this question under static conditions.

METHODS

Optical body scans were collected for 44 subjects, using the Diers formetric 4D system, for seven different mandible positions. In total, ten spinal and body posture parameters were assessed (trunk inclination, trunk imbalance, pelvic tilt, pelvic torsion, fleche cervicale, fleche lombaire, kyphotic angle, lordotic angle, surface rotation, and lateral deviation) for each mandible position and compared with scans performed with habitual intercuspation (HIC).

RESULTS

Significant body posture deviations were found for the fleche cervicale (position of the mandible: right eccentrically), fleche lombaire (positions of the mandible: physiologic rest position, cotton rolls on both sides, bite elevation 1 mm), and the kyphotic angle (positions of the mandible: cotton rolls on both sides, right eccentrically). No other significant differences were detected.

CONCLUSIONS

Data for the parameters that varied with different dental occlusions generated high standard deviations. Therefore, within the limitations of this pilot study, we could not conclusively associate dental occlusion to an instantaneous impact on the tested parameters. The posture changes that we detected could also have arisen from individual neuromuscular compensation; a possibility that must now be ruled-in, or out, by further research studies with a higher number of subjects.