A study of ultrasound images under 3 different functional mandibular positions in young females / 华西口腔医学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>The aim of this study was to establish the average of superfacial masseter muscle of young females with normal occlusion, and further supply a clue for dentists to evaluate the muscle function of patients with malocclusion.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 31 young females were investigated in this study, whose mean age was 21 years and 4 months old. Ultrasound technique was applied to obtain the ultrasound parameters of images, including area, width, mean thickness, maximal thickness of the cross-section and the length of the vertical-section of the masseter muscle under relaxing, maximal clenching and maximal protruding condition. The data were analyzed using ANOVA analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The mean value and standard deviation of every parameter were figured out and it was found that there was a significant difference between relaxing and maximal clenching as well as maximal protruding.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The result indicates that ultrasonic technique is an effective method for describing superfacial masseter muscle morphology and diagnosing its function.</p>