| Summary: | Many factors are thought to be involved in the dynamic interplay, or equilibrium
between the different components of the masticatory system. Studies have attempted to
analyse the normal functional, and parafunctional behaviour of the masticatory muscles.
The most widely used treatment mode for parafunctional behaviours is an intra-oral
occlusal apppliance (or splint), and the mechanism of action of intra-oral splints
remains controversial. There has been no attempt to link muscle activity pattern
recognition with the jaw movements produced, or for that matter with the resultant
forces developed. Neither has a satisfactory method for pattern recognition been proposed
to analyse jaw movement patterns.
The aim of this study was to develop a pattern recognition system capable of predicting
forceful movements of the jaw using an occlusal appliance, and to develop an
analytical methodology for discriminating the features of EMG recordings of the 4
muscles relative to specified intra-oral tasks.
The experiments were divided into three main studies:
A reproducibility study , in which a subject, using an occlusal splint and performing a
series of prescribed movements was recorded using EMG of the anterior temporalis, and
masseter muscles bilaterally. This showed that it was possible to identify patterns on a
daily basis, and that it was possible to discriminate between different movement
directions more reliably than different movement speeds. A pattern recognition study
was performed utilizing the previous results, and showed that for the same subject it was
possible to predict the movements 98.2% of the time for the 5 day period. The final
study involved the pattern recognition for a sample group of 10 subjects, this resulted
in a 95.7% success rate overall for movement prediction.
This study has shown that using a relatively simple computer algorithm, the smoothed
and filtered EMG waveform, and discriminant analysis, it is possible to discriminate
between different simulated bruxist-like movements. === Dentistry, Faculty of === Graduate
|
|---|
