Examination of masticatory muscles in patients with different sagittal direction skeletal anomalies using ultrasonography and ultrasonographic elastography

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the masseter, anterior digastric, geniohyoid and mental muscles of individuals with similar vertical direction dimensions but different sagittal direction skeletal malocclusions who are in similar growth and development periods, with ultrasonography and ultrasonographic elastography, and to make an interclass evaluation. Method: In this study, ultrasonography and elastographic ultrasonography records of 30 Class I (17 girls, 13 boys), 30 Class II (14 girls, 16 boys), 27 Class III (12 girls, 15 boys) individuals who were normodivergent and in the growth and development period (S, Mp3cap) were used. The masseter, anterior digastric, geniogyoid and mental muscles of the individuals were examined with ultrasonography and ultrasonographic elastography and compared between classes. In comparisons of the means of two independent groups, the independent samples t test was used for data showing normal distribution, and the Mann Whitney U test was used for data that did not. Results: While masseter muscle thickness was found to be similar between classes (p>0.05), right masseter area measurement was found to be greater in Class III patients than in Class II patients (p=0.015), and right masseter length measurement was found to be greater in Class III patients than in Class I patients (p=0.004). ). No significant difference was found between classes in ultrasonography measurements of accessory chewing muscles. In the interclass ultrasonographic elastography measurements, the right masseter measurements at rest (p=0.001) and the left masseter measurements during maximum teeth clenching (p=0.032) of Class III patients were found to be greater than those of Class II patients. Conclusion: Muscle sizes and elasticities of individuals with different sagittal direction malocclusions during the growth and development period were found to be approximately similar to each other.