Functional Evaluation of Orofacial and Hand-Tapping Movements in Edentulous Patients

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The correlation between movements of the mandible and hand in response to auditory signals were studied to compare motor skills in the orofacial structures and upper extremities.Ten dentulous young adults and 2 geriatric edentulous patients (one, who was not adapted : A, another, who was well adapted to complete denture wearing : B) were asked to make tapping movements of the mandible or hand in synchronization with auditory signals generated at regular intervals of 1.3 time/sec. While tapping, the markers on the menton (Me) and fingertip (Ft) were recorded on videotape using 2 high-speed video cameras from frontal and lateral perspectives. The, movements of each marker were automatically tracked, and the resulting data of the 3-dimensional coordinates was constructed. Then, the trajectory of each monitored point was computed using a 3-dimensional analyzer (Movias 3D) with reference to the following parameters: total length from start to finish of the trajectory (TL); distance between start and finish of the trajectory (SL); TL to SL ratio (T/S); volume of the rectangular solid encompassing the entire trajectory (Cub); the 3-dimensional angles created by the difference in the direction of the preceding and subsequent trajectories at each measured time (TH); and velocity (V).The following results were observed : The time-lag between the auditory signal and Ft movement in the edentulous subjects (A, B) was greater than that of the dentulous subjects (N). Although the time-lag between the signal and Me movement in B was similar to that of N, the time-lag in A was greater than in N and B.In both A and B, during the down phases of Ft, Cub, TL, SL and V were smaller and TH was greater than that in N. During the closing phases of Me in A, Cub, TL, SL and V were remarkably greater than that in N, however, in B, only T/S was smaller than in N and the others were almost within the range of 1SD of N.