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. 2020 Apr 7;20(7):2086.
doi: 10.3390/s20072086.

Effects of Rapid Palatal Expansion on Chewing Biomechanics in Children with Malocclusion: A Surface Electromyography Study

Fabiola Spolaor  1 , Martina Mason  2 , Alberto De Stefani  2 , Giovanni Bruno  2 , Ottavia Surace  1 , Annamaria Guiotto  1 , Antonio Gracco  2 , Zimi Sawacha  1
Affiliations

Effects of Rapid Palatal Expansion on Chewing Biomechanics in Children with Malocclusion: A Surface Electromyography Study

Fabiola Spolaor et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Malocclusion during childhood may affect both morphology and masticatory function and could greatly affect the subsequent growth and development of the jaws and face. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of surface electromyography in describing the effects of the rapid palatal expansion (RPE) on Masseter (M) and Temporalis Anterior (T) muscles' activity in 53 children with different types of malocclusion: bilateral posterior crossbite (BPcb), underdeveloped maxillary complex without crossbite (NOcb) and unilateral posterior crossbite on the right (UPCBr) and on the left (UPCBl). The muscular activities during chewing tasks were assessed bilaterally before and after RPE application and three months after removal. Both the envelope's peak (µV) and its occurrence (% of chewing task) were extracted from the surface electromyography signal. Our results showed the presence of statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) on temporomandibular joint muscles, across different assessments, in all the tested populations of subjects. Surface electromyography demonstrated a relationship between the correction of a maxillary transverse discrepancy and the restoration of a muscle's activation patterns comparable to healthy subjects for both T and M.

Keywords: children; electromyography; posterior crossbite; rapid palatal expansion.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Timeline of the project.
Figure 2
Figure 2
the results of one-way ANOVA (p < 0.05) at T0 (A,B), at T1 (C,D), at T2 (E,F) between the 5 populations. Color Legend: blue for NoCB, pink for BPcb, green for Controls, light grey for UPCBl and grey for UPCBr.
Figure 3
Figure 3
the results of a paired T Test (p < 0.05) at T0, T1 and T2 in both BPcb in the upper graphs (A,B), and in NOcb (in the lower graphs (C,D)).
Figure 4
Figure 4
the results of a paired T Test (p < 0.05) at T0, T1 and T2 in both UPCBl in the upper graphs (A,B), and in UPCBr in the lower graphs (C,D).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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