Electromyographic values of masticatory muscles in middle-aged dentate patients

Abstract

Abstract Introduction. Surface electromyography has proven to be a useful instrument for the assessment of success rate for different dental treatments. However, due to numerous variables that may influence the data like age, gender, fat tissue thickness etc. it is necessary to adjust the obtained values to a reference group with the same parameters. Material and methods. A number of 33 patients were included in the study (21 women and 12 men) aged between 43-67 years old (mean 54± SD1.26). Surface electromyography of masticatory muscles was used in these patients to assess the average value in a time span and overlapping coefficients. Totally 10 parameters from each patient were recorded: TAL, TAR, MML, MMR, PocTA, PocMM, BAR, Asym, TORS, Impact. Data were stored in an Excel spreadsheet and then analyzed statistically using RStudio software. Results. Based on the results of our study, the main EMG activity indices in middle-aged Moldavian individuals had the following values: for the left temporalis (TAL) was 42 µV, median 18.8 with a minimum of 3.8 and a maximum of 190 µV. For the right temporalis (TAR) the mean was 51.4 µV, median – 32.9, a minimal value of 7.9 and a maximum of 248 µV. The left masseter had a mean of 48.7 µV, median 12.3, a minimal value of 1.5 and a maximum value of 439 µV. The right masseter had a mean of 42.1 µV, a median of 16.3, minimum value 11.4 and maximum 243 µV. The overlapping coefficients deviated with 20.5% from the normal range provided by the manufacturer. Conclusions. Electromyographic activity of masticatory muscles in healthy patients can be used for comparison with patients that had various dental treatment but have the same age, gender, ethnicity, etc. The overlapping coefficients did not perfectly match in the normal range provided by manufacturer even if these subjects had previously minimum dental procedures.