Oral Myofunctional and Articulation Disorders in Children with Malocclusions: A Systematic Review

Abstract

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Relationships between malocclusion and orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMD), as well as malocclusions and articulation disorders (AD) have been described, though the exact relationships remain unclear. Given the high prevalence of these disorders in children, more clarity is needed. <b><i>Summary:</i></b> The purpose of this study was to determine the association between OMD (specifically, bruxism, deviate swallowing, caudal resting tongue posture, and biting habits), AD, and malocclusions in children and adolescents aged between 3 and 18 years. To conduct a systematic review, 4 databases were searched (MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus). The identified articles were screened for the eligibility criteria. Data were extracted from the selected articles and quality assessment was performed using the tool of Munn et al. [Int J Health Policy Manag. 2014;3:123–81] in consensus. Using the search strategy, the authors identified 2,652 articles after the removal of duplicates. After reviewing the eligibility criteria, 17 articles were included in this study. One of the included articles was deemed to have an unclear risk of bias, whereas all other articles were considered to have a low risk of bias. The articles showed a relationship between anterior open bite and apico-alveolar articulatory distortions, as well as between anterior open bite and deviate swallowing. For the biting habits, bruxism, and low tongue position no clear conclusions could be drawn. <b><i>Key Messages:</i></b> The current review suggests a link between specific types of malocclusion and OMD and AD. However, more high-quality evidence (level 1 and level 2, Oxford Levels of Evidence) is needed to clarify the cooccurrence of other OMD, AD, and malocclusions.

Speech Disorders in Dysgnathic Adult Patients in the Field of Severity of Primary Dysfunction

“…As the bolus passes across the posterior or the inferior margin of the ramus of the mandible, the pharyngeal swallowing phase starts. The time of a singular swallowing act oscillates around 1 s. When such function is abnormal, it may lead to structural changes, as mentioned earlier by Yamaguchi et al and Thijs et al [5,6]. Fujiki et al [8] proved that before the orthognathic surgery, the contact between the tongue and palate was smaller and the tongue tip was positioned more anteriorly than in control subjects when the dorsal tongue lost contact with soft palate.…”

“…They pointed out that force from unintentional and habitual behaviours constantly present in the maxillofacial and alveolar region can cause bony structures to deform gradually. Thijs et al [6] stated that the disturbance of primary functions significantly impacts occlusion, as well as speech and may induce more articulation disorders for /s/, /n/, /l/, /t/ phonemes found in the subjects seeking orthodontic treatment. Several other phenomena were observed more often in this group: more impaired lip positioning during swallowing, impaired tongue function at rest, mouth breathing, open mouth posture, lips sucking/biting, anterior tongue position at rest and tongue thrust.…”

Lingual Frenotomy in Pediatric Ankyloglossia: A Diode Laser Approach in Two Case Reports

“…The role of orofacial muscle (i.e., lips, tongue, and oropharynx) alterations on jaw development has been widely discussed, but there is still no consensus in the scientific literature on whether bad oral habits, mouth breathing, and low tongue posture play a role in the etiology and pathogenesis of malocclusions [ 9 , 10 ]. Despite this, whenever problems associated with malocclusion are identified, they are of considerable importance for the prognosis and must be eliminated to ensure adequate growth.…”

Oral Habits in Childhood and Occlusal Pathologies: A Cohort Study

“…In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months to 2 years [ 9 ]. It has been shown to reduce malocclusions and improve mastication quality due to the better development of the masseter, temporalis, and pterygoid muscles [ 10 , 11 , 12 ]. The alternative to breastfeeding in cases where this is not possible is bottle feeding.…”