The Effect of Teeth Clenching on Dynamic Balance at Jump-Landing: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of teeth clenching on dynamic balance at jump landing. Twenty-five healthy subjects performed jump-landing tasks with or without teeth clenching. The first 3 trials were performed with no instruction; subsequently, subjects were ordered to clench at the time of landing in the following 3 trials. We collected the data of masseter muscle activity by electromyogram, the maximum vertical ground reaction force (vGRFmax) and center of pressure (CoP) parameters by force plate during jump-landing. According to the clenching status of control jump-landing, all participants were categorized into a spontaneous clenching group and no clenching group, and the CoP data were compared. The masseter muscle activity was correlated with vGRFmax during anterior jump-landing, while it was not correlated with CoP. In comparisons between the spontaneous clenching and the no clenching group during anterior jump-landing, the spontaneous clenching group showed harder landing and the CoP area became larger than the no clenching group. There were no significant differences between pre-and postintervention in both spontaneous clenching and no clenching groups. The effect of teeth clenching on dynamic balance during jump-landing was limited.Keywords: dynamic balance, teeth clenching, ground reaction force, center of pressure, electromyogramTeeth clenching is performed in a voluntary manner by the contraction of mandibular muscles. These muscles receive innervation from the motor area of the cerebral cortex, the same as skeletal muscles of the limbs.1 Recently, it has been reported that chewing activity has a positive effect on attention, mood improvement, and stress relief.2,3 Moreover, positive correlation between muscle strength of the skeletal muscles and teeth clenching was reported. Sasaki et al 4 reported that teeth clenching force had a positive correlation with isometric gastrocnemius muscle strength. A number of studies have demonstrated that voluntary teeth clenching facilitated the H-reflex in both the agonist and antagonist muscles of the lower limb, [5][6][7][8][9] suggesting that teeth clenching contributed to stabilization of body orientation by strengthening the skeletal muscles of the limb.There were also several reports that confirmed the oral motor activity relations on postural control, 10-15 revealing the superior effect of teeth clenching on body balance control against body sway. However, these pieces of research were subjected to static balance, and there were few reports that investigated the effect of teeth clenching on dynamic balance.Stabilization of dynamic balance is important for sport activity and injury prevention. Although the effects of teeth clenching on sport performance and injury prevention were investigated in several pieces of research, 16-18 they remain controversial. Additionally, the subsequent occlusion status (presence and force of teeth clenching) in various sports is also unknown. In this study, we investigated the occlusion status and the effect ...

Effects of Clenching Strength on Exercise Performance: Verification Using Spinal Function Assessments

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Hirabayashi et alT eeth clenching has a significant immediate impact on exercise performance, 5,10,35 but the optimal clenching strength for peak performance during various exercises is unknown. Clenching has been observed with strenuous exercise, such as sports, and its effects on exercise and muscle performance have been reported.

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Development of a Wearable Mouth Guard Device for Monitoring Teeth Clenching during Exercise

“…However, using a stabilometric platform, a prior study has reported that dental occlusion does not influence postural stability in static body balance [22]. There was no significant difference in dynamic body balance between pre-teeth clenching and post-teeth clenching interventions during jump-landing motions [11]. Some studies reported that an MG did not significantly affect the maximum exercise performance of athletes from a subjective point of view, such as numeric scores of the athletes' assessments of mouth guard interference.…”