The chewing muscles (
masticatory) can cause pain but sometimes jaw movement problems like locking, clicking and dislocating are culprits too.
Masticatory system activities can be classified into two categories; functional category comprises of mastication, phonation, and parafunctional category includes clenching or grinding of the teeth (called bruxism).
There are a heterogeneous group of pathologies that affect the Temporomandibular joint, the
masticatory muscles, or both are characterized by a classically described triad of clinical signs, such as muscle and/or Temporomandibular joint pain; Temporomandibular joint sounds; and restriction, deviation, or deflection while wide mouth opening or while doing any kind of functional movements.
According to research, a misaligned TMJ (tempero mandibular joint - the joint that connects the lower jaw to the skull) can lead to a lot of problems: headache, migraine, neck ache, backache, shoulder pain, clicking and popping of the TMJ, limited jaw opening,
masticatory muscle pain, pain while opening or closing your mouth, ear pain, and so on.
However, certain problems are encountered by the patients such as stability of the lower dentures resulting in poor
masticatory efficiency.
It is characterized by a loss of voluntary control of facial, lingual, pharyngeal and
masticatory muscles in the presence of preserved reflexive and automatic functions of the same muscles (3,4).
The relationship between the structure of the
masticatory apparatus and diet has long been investigated in bats (Freeman, 1981; 1984; Van Cakenberghe, Herrel, & Aguirre, 2002, Swartz, Freeman, & Stockwell, 2003; Nogueira, Monteiro, Peracchi, & De Araujo, 2005; Dumont, Herrel, Medellin, Vargas-Contreras, & Santana, 2009; Nogueira, Peracchi, & Monteiro, 2009).
The volunteer could not observe the graphic signal of those movements in the computer screen and had no visual stimuli from the mirror during the
masticatory act.
Each structure in the
masticatory system can tolerate the increase in stress, resulting from increased activity of muscles up to a certain level.
Bite forces remain as one of the functional indicators of the state of the
masticatory system that results from the action of jaw elevator muscles modified by the craniomandibular biomechanics.
The
masticatory muscles were relatively larger than in human (Fig.
The technique does not result in loss of mandibular bone, and patients return to full
masticatory function compared with those who require resection and reconstruction.