Abstract
Objective : Recently, the relationship between the stomatognathic system and motor ability of the entire body has been studied from various viewpoints.
Some reports suggested that the motions athletes make during training or a game, such as the clenching of teeth, have training effects on their masseter muscles. To determine the relationship between the oral health status of athletes with considerable sports experience and their muscle strength in the stomatognathic system, we examined the oral health status and measured the occlusal force of athletes enrolled in the School of Health and Sports Science of our university. We compared the results with those of students who were enrolled in the School of Medicine and who did not belong to any sports clubs as the control group. The oral conditions of 20 athletes and 8 control subjects were examined, the decayed, missing and filled (DMF) index of teeth was calculated, and the maximum occlusal force when subject were not exercising was measured. We analyzed whether there are significant differences in oral health status (DMF index) and occlusal force between the athletes and the control group, and whether there is a correlation between oral health status (DMF index) and occlusal force in each group.
The results were as follows :
1. The average DMF indices in the control group and the group of athletes were 7.3 and 8.2, respectively. The average occlusal forces of the control group and the athlete group were 728.8 N and 789.9 N, respectively.
2. There was no significant difference in the DMF index or occlusal force between the athlete group and the control group.
3. In the control group, a significant negative correlation was observed between the DMF index and occlusal force. Specifically, muscle strength in the stomatognathic system tended to decrease as the DMF index increased. On the other hand, in the athlete group, no significant correlation was observed between the DMF index and occlusal force. These results suggest that the exercising of the entire body of athletes prevented the decrease in muscle strength in the stomatognathic system.
