Relationship between dental changes and mandibular movement caused by lip bumper treatment

Abstract

I investigated changes in mandibular movement and tooth position caused by mandibular lip bumper treatment. Ten patients who received lip bumper therapy were studied. Study models, cephalograms, and mandibular movement were recorded prior to and 6 months after lip bumper treatment. Three angles of projection (AP) were recorded for the angle between the path of closure and the FH plane. They were the frontal, horizontal and sagittal projections. Changes for the dental values and for each AP before and after treatment were compared using the paired t-tests. The relation between these changes were evaluated by Pearson's correlation analysis. All measured items for the dental values increased significantly in all cases after 6 months of lip bumper treatment. I also found a significant relationship between changes in arch width and the frontal and horizontal AP. This study showed that with lip bumper treatment, changes in arch development, especially arch width, resulted in masticatory movement changes in the lateral dimension.