Over-the-counter bite splints: A randomized controlled trial of compliance and efficacy.

Background: Occlusal splints are often used to curb the impacts of sleep bruxism (SB) on the dentition, and over-the-counter (OCT) options are becoming increasingly popular. OTC splints are usually fabricated at home by patients, but not routinely evaluated by dental professionals. It is unclear how OCT splints compare with more traditional splints that receive dental oversight.

Individuality of masticatory performance and of masticatory muscle temporal parameters.

Objective: Mammalian mastication serves to improve intra-oral food reduction. Insufficient food reduction creates potential swallowing problems, whereas over-reduction may accelerate tooth wear and increase feeding time. Either extreme has consequences.

Multivariate classification of pain-evoked brain activity in temporomandibular disorder.

Central nervous system factors are now understood to be important in the etiology of temporomandibular disorders (TMD), but knowledge concerning objective markers of central pathophysiology in TMD is lacking. Multivariate analysis techniques like support vector machines (SVMs) could generate important discoveries regarding the expression of pain centralization in TMD. Support vector machines can recognize patterns in “training” data and subsequently classify or predict new “test” data.

Scaling of rotational inertia of primate mandibles.

The relative importance of pendulum mechanics and muscle mechanics in chewing dynamics has implications for understanding the optimality criteria driving the evolution of primate feeding systems. The Spring Model (Ross et al., 2009b), which modeled the primate chewing system as a forced mass-spring system, predicted that chew cycle time would increase faster than was actually observed.

Comparisons of chewing rhythm, craniomandibular morphology, body mass and height between mothers and their biological daughters.

Objective: To study and compare the relationships between mean chewing cycle duration, selected cephalometric variables representing mandibular length, face height, etc., measured in women and in their teenage or young-adult biological daughters.

Design: Daughters were recruited from local high schools and the University of Michigan School of Dentistry.

Relationships between masticatory rhythmicity, body mass and cephalometrically-determined aesthetic and functional variables during development in humans.

Objective: We studied the relationship between chewing rhythmicity, craniomandibular morphology, and age in humans.

Design: Sixty subjects (10M:10F/group×three age groups, viz., 4-8, 10-14, and 17-21 years) participated.

Analysis of temporal variation in human masticatory cycles during gum chewing.

Objective: The study investigated modulation of fast and slow opening (FO, SO) and closing (FC, SC) chewing cycle phases using gum-chewing sequences in humans.

Design: Twenty-two healthy adult subjects participated by chewing gum for at least 20s on the right side and at least 20s on the left side while jaw movements were tracked with a 3D motion analysis system. Jaw movement data were digitized, and chewing cycle phases were identified and analysed for all chewing cycles in a complete sequence.

Esthetic evaluation of dynamic smiles with attention to facial muscle activity.

Introduction: Numerous studies of smile esthetics have used still photos. Photos, however, do not capture the dynamics of a smile, an element that can contribute to overall smile esthetics. In this study, we assessed the esthetics of dynamic smiles.

Altered functional connectivity between the insula and the cingulate cortex in patients with temporomandibular disorder: a pilot study.

Background: Among the most common chronic pain conditions, yet poorly understood, are temporomandibular disorders (TMDs), with a prevalence estimate of 3-15% for Western populations. Although it is increasingly acknowledged that central nervous system mechanisms contribute to pain amplification and chronicity in TMDs, further research is needed to unravel neural correlates that might abet the development of chronic pain.

Objective: The insular cortex (IC) and cingulate cortex (CC) are both critically involved in the experience of pain.

Changes in regional gray and white matter volume in patients with myofascial-type temporomandibular disorders: a voxel-based morphometry study.

Aims: To use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to search for evidence of altered brain morphology in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD).

Methods: Using VBM, regional gray and white matter volume was investigated in nine TMD patients and nine carefully matched healthy controls.

Results: A decrease in gray matter volume occurred in the left anterior cingulate gyrus, in the right posterior cingulate gyrus, the right anterior insular cortex, left inferior frontal gyrus, as well as the superior temporal gyrus bilaterally in the TMD patients.

Chewing rates among domestic dog breeds.

The mammalian masticatory rhythm is produced by a brainstem timing network. The rhythm is relatively fixed within individual animals but scales allometrically with body mass (M(b)) across species. It has been hypothesized that sensory feedback and feed-forward adjust the rhythm to match the jaw's natural resonance frequency, with allometric scaling being an observable consequence.

Effect of registration on cyclical kinematic data.

Given growing interest in functional data analysis (FDA) as a useful method for analyzing human movement data, it is critical to understand the effects of standard FDA procedures, including registration, on biomechanical analyses. Registration is used to reduce phase variability between curves while preserving the individual curve's shape and amplitude. The application of three methods available to assess registration could benefit those in the biomechanics community using FDA techniques: comparison of mean curves, comparison of average RMS values, and assessment of time-warping functions.

Predicting masticatory jaw movements from chin movements using multivariate linear methods.

Previously, we have used bivariate correlations of maximum and minimum displacement, velocity and acceleration variables to compare masticatory chin and jaw movements (J. Prosthet. Dent.

Loading effects on rat craniomandibular morphology: a system for gravity studies.

Gravity effects on muscle and bone are a major impediment to long-term space travel. We introduce a model for studying these effects, the craniomandibular system. Some advantages of this system include: (1) craniomandibular morphology is determined by epigenetic factors including gravity, (2) relatively light forces can significantly alter its morphology, and (3) soft diet and tooth loss produce effects that are similar to those produced in lower limbs by weightlessness.

A model of vertebrate resting metabolic rate: balancing energetics and O2 transport in system design.

In vertebrates, maximal rates of oxygen consumption (V(O(2),max)) exceed resting rates (V(O(2),rest)) by an average factor of ten. This pattern of factorial scope has led to the hypothesis that V(O(2),rest) and V(O(2),max) are causally linked in vertebrates (aerobic capacity model, Bennett and Ruben, Science 206, 649-654, 1979). We propose an alternate theory that vertebrate resting metabolic rates are regulated at levels to optimize metabolic performance during activity, by reducing cardiovascular response times for O(2) transport.