The human body remains standing, thanks to the existing balance between all the structures that compose it. An alteration, at whatever level, will influence the rest of the organism. The jaw articulates with the skull through the temporo-mandibular joint and through the dental occlusion, but for this mechanism to work, it is necessary that each tooth occlude correctly with its antagonists. All the dental pieces must be in perfect balance to avoid that the temporo-mandibular joint is overloaded. When the balance is broken by extractions, by dental malpositions, by mandibular positions towards distal, mesial or lateral, a malocclusion syndrome is created that causes the chewing muscles to contract more than others, or, that the patient chews more than one side that of another causing a muscular atrophy on the side that uses less and a compensatory muscular hypertrophy of the other, causing a facial asymmetry. And when the jaw goes into imbalance, depending on the muscle chains that are activated, the skull will also take an anomalous spatial position, (extension or flexion), which will act overloading the cervical spine, and in an attempt to adapt, would cause alteration to level of the same, with increased curvatures or rectifications that will lead to painful symptoms in the future. If it is treated with analgesics, it will disappear, but after not having treated the cause, after a while, it will reappear and the patient will enter the group of chronic patients.
Learning Objective :
- The dentist must know the postural alterations that are produced by malocclusions and ATM dysfunctions, to treat or refer the specialized practitioner in posture for rehabilitation
