The Influence of the Sleeping Posture on Jaw Muscle EMGs of Young Children during Voluntary Jaw Clenching

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the jaw closing muscle activities during jaw clenching were influenced by the sleeping posture of children.
Five children with deciduous dentition and three adults participated in this study. The subjects were asked to perform three different motor tasks voluntary jaw clenching while sitting, lying on their backs and on their sides. Electromyograms were recorded from the masseter muscle and from the anterior part of the temporal muscle, unilaterally.
There were no significant differences among these three different positions with respect to the activities of the jaw closing muscles during jaw clenching in either the children or the adults (ANOVA, p>0.05).
Our results indicated that the phasic motor unit activities of the jaw muscle EMGs were not influenced by the sleeping postures of children.