Abstract
We herein report the efficacy of bite training for Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (DMD). The subjects consisted of 7 patients with DMD, with a mean age of 20.1 years (range: 16 to 28 years). The occlusal force before training was compared with that after 6 months of training. Thereafter, in 6 patients in whom training could be continued, we examined the changes after 12 months of training. For training, both thermotherapy and stretching were performed. For measurement purposes, we used the OCCLUSAL FORCE-METER GM10. The occlusal force in the patients with DMD was thus found to be markedly lower than that in healthy adults. Training for 6 months increased the occlusal force from 61.1±40.9N to 90.0±32.2N (p<0.001). After 12 months of training, the occlusal force in the 6 patients (80.4±38.6N) was significantly higher than that before training (56.0±42.0N)(p<0.05). This study suggests that bite training is therefore useful for improving the occlusal force in DMD patients.
