Assessment of Orofacial Muscle Strength, Masticatory and Swallowing Function in Children Indicated for Orthodontic Treatment-A Preliminary Investigation.

BACKGROUND: It would be beneficial for clinicians to have more tools to assess the treatment needs of children by measuring bite force, chewing and swallowing function. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate orofacial muscle strength, masticatory and swallowing function in children indicated for orthodontic treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-two volunteers were equally divided into an experimental group (mean age: 14.9 ± 2.8, 15 girls) and a control group (15.2 ± 2.3, 15 girls) based on their orthodontic treatment needs. The orofacial muscle strength was measured by recording the maximum voluntary bite force (MVBF), tongue and cheek pressure. Additionally, the participants also performed food comminution and mixing ability tests to measure their masticatory performance. Swallowing function was assessed with a standardised Test of Masticating and Swallowing Solids (TOMASS). RESULTS: The results showed significant differences in the MVBF (p = 0.009) between the groups. The results also showed no significant differences in the food comminution test and mixing ability test between the two groups (p = 0.553, p = 0.269, respectively). The results of the TOMASS test showed significant differences in the number of bites to eat the cracker (p = 0.003) but no significant differences in the number of chewing cycles (p = 0.855), the number of swallows (p = 0.149), or duration to eat the cracker (p = 0.275). CONCLUSIONS: Patients indicated for orthodontic treatments show poor orofacial muscle strength in terms of lower MVBF with the age and sex-matched controls.