Masticator

Masticography is the recording of movements of the lower jaw, the nature of its interaction with the teeth during their antagonistic interaction. This concept came into our everyday medical speech from the English language and is a complex term consisting of the prefix “masticator” (chewing unit) and the Greek-Latin prefix “grapho”, which translates as “writing” - a graphic representation of this work.

This system in the oral cavity is important for determining the etiology of chewing pain, establishing the pathogenetic basis of dental diseases characterized by degenerative processes in the bone tissue of the jaws, a generalized disorder of the microcirculation of the dentofacial area, and traumatic damage to the temporomandibular joints. A certain differentiation in the indications of the study may be due to a number of objective pathological changes in the temporomandibular joint, which determine the predominance of the symptomatic complex in the clinical picture of the disease and its spread or, conversely, the localization of the process.

Masticography is a functional study that allows you to evaluate the anatomical features and functioning of the temporomandibular joint apparatus. When masticating the dentition, the amplitude, volume, duration, tone during and beginning of the work of the muscles responsible for jaw movements, the state of the ligamentous apparatus, the direction of shift are determined, that is, the installation and volume of the motor action of these elements of the maxillofacial system. The study allows us to determine the shape of the relationship between the teeth of the right and left arch. In a dental clinic, mastic movements are a way to determine the integrity of the dentition, the condition of the mucous membrane and, in general, the function responsible for the normal possibility of chewing movements of the jaw. The classification of variants of the tone of the masticatory muscles distinguishes the nomotopic type - a normal type of movement of one tooth relative to another, and the opistopedic - abnormal, opposite to the nomotopic type. In addition, it is possible to identify direct and indirect forms of pathology in the type of mastic movements. In the case of an indirect type of anomaly, mastication data will not allow excluding the pathology of temporomandibular joint movements without invasive research methods, for example, palpation.

The stages of a masticatiometric examination can be determined by the following actions of the doctor:

1. placing the rod of the orthodontic mirror of the lower dentition on the teeth of the opposite side;

2. before the study or immediately after it, a photometric recording of the movement of the closure of the dental units of the lower jaw is carried out and the result is compared with the norm;

3. the result of the mastic movement of the upper dentition is interpreted by the amount of mixing and the ability of the closure movements of both dental groups to uniformly distribute the load relative to each other is assessed.