The medial pterygoid muscle: a stabiliser of horizontal jaw movement.

There is limited information of the normal function of the human medial pterygoid muscle (MPt). The aims were to determine whether (i) the MPt is active throughout horizontal jaw movements with the teeth apart and (ii) whether single motor units (SMUs) are active during horizontal and opening-closing jaw movements. Intramuscular electrodes were placed in the right MPt of 18 participants who performed five teeth-apart tasks: (i) postural position, (ii) ipsilateral (i.e. right) jaw movement, (iii) contralateral movement, (iv) protrusive movement and (v) opening-closing movement. Movement tasks were guided by a target and were divided into BEFORE, OUT, HOLDING, RETURN and AFTER phases according to the movement trajectories recorded by a jaw tracking system. Increased EMG activity was consistently found in the OUT, HOLDING and RETURN phases of the contralateral and protrusive movement tasks. An increased RETURN phase activity in the ipsilateral task indicates an important role for the MPt in the contralateral force vector. Of the 14 SMUs active in the opening-closing task, 64% were also active in at least one horizontal task. There were tonically active SMUs at the postural jaw position in 44% of participants. These new data point to an important role for the MPt in the fine control of low forces as required for stabilisation of vertical mandibular position not only to maintain postural position, but also throughout horizontal jaw movements with the teeth apart. These findings provide baseline information for future investigations of the possible role of this muscle in oro-facial pain conditions.

Analysis of human mandibular mechanics based on screw theory and in vivo data.

In this paper the mechanics of human mandibular function is described in terms of the associated screws. The two distinct, yet related features of jaw mechanics, involving the motion itself as well as the forces, are both functions of the anatomical constraints, namely the contact areas that exist within the temporomandibular joint, and the forces of the muscles and tendons that allow motion to occur. The relationships that exist between these two aspects of jaw-motion are identified in this paper showing that muscle forces can be uniquely represented in terms of the action screw. This new approach to analyzing the mechanics of jaw-motion also incorporates the previously studied motion screw or helical axis. A consistent dynamic model is formulated where the action screw is used to represent the action of the closing muscle forces while the moment arms of the muscle forces are determined about the motion screw representing mandibular kinematics. The action screw formulation is verified using in vivo motion data and MR image information for a single asymptomatic subject. The results confirm the feasibility of the method and its application in dental research. A general increase in the mechanical advantage of most muscles, in the distance between action and motion screws as well as in the expended energy towards the end of the jaw-closing phase was observed. Asymmetries in the distribution of muscle force magnitudes appeared to influence the resultant force and moment of the action screw but had little effect on its spatial location. The method presented is intended to facilitate understanding of mandibular function and dysfunction.