Association of Dental Occlusion, Body Posture and Temporomandibular Disorders:An Overview

Correlation between malocclusions and body posture and temporomandibular disorders have been a controversial topic, even though it has been discussed in the last decades, but there is still a lack of consensus in the literature. The available literature was searched to determine the current evidence regarding: (i) The relationship of the dental occlusion–body posture physiology, (ii) The relationship of temporomandibular disorders with occlusion and body posture and (iii) The availability and accuracy of the instrumental devices (surface electromyography, kinesiography and postural platforms) to measure the dental occlusion–body posture–Temporomandibular disorders relationship.The above said method and devices do not find any association between body posture and dental occlusion. This result can be due to the many compensation mechanisms taking place within the body’s neuromuscular system. The use of clinical and instrumental method for assessing body posture is not supported by the available literature, mainly because of wide variations in the techniques.