The Importance of Pressure Measurement in Orthognathic Surgery

Categoria: Investigação

Autores: Fernando Duarte, João Neves Silva, Colin Hopper and Nigel Hunt

Referência: SCIENTIFIC ARCHIVES OF DENTAL SCIENCES
ISSN:2642-1623

Resumo: Orthodontic and surgical technical advances in recent years have resulted in treatment opportunities for a whole range of
craniofacial skeletal disorders either in the adolescent or adult patients.
Pressure is a critical variable in many converting operations. Despite its importance, pressure often receives very scant attention.
Pressurex® (SPL – Sensor Products LLC, USA) is a pressure indicating sensor film that reveals pressure distribution and magnitude
between any two contacting, mating or impacting surfaces.
This pilot investigation was designed to apply several, newly developed and more sophisticated methods of measuring muscle
structure and function to a situation where adaptation of muscle is pivotal to the success of a therapeutic approach.
Patients attending the combined orthodontic/orthognathic surgery clinic at the Clitrofa – Centro Médico, Dentário e Cirúrgico, in
Trofa – Portugal were tested according to the following protocol: The Pressure Sensor Film System was placed between the upper and
lower dental arch and the subjects were instructed to bite as forcefully as possible for about 3 seconds. The values were registered
(T0) and the procedure was repeated after 10 minutes (T1), and after 1 month (T2). In the proposed repeatability test, the occlusal
pressure was measured for 30 consecutive patients twice by two different observers